WESTERN  RESERVE 


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THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 


AND 


EARLY  OHIO 


By  P.  P.  CHERRY 


Author  ot    The  Grave  Creek  Moun'd,  PoRTA^rE  Path.  Pioneer 
Hunting  Stories.  a}id  Mingo  The  Scout 


Published  by 

R.  L.  FOUSE 

FIRESTONE  PARK.  AKRON,  OHIO 

1921 


»     »     «    • 
•  •     •  ., 


Copyright  1920 
CHERRY  &  FOUSE 


CASLON    PRINTERS 
WOOSTER,   OHIO 


RUSSELL  L.  FOUSE 

This  book  is  due  solely  to  the  ambition, 
enthusiasm  and  persistence  of  Russell  L. 
Fouse,  superintendent  of  the  Kenmore  schools. 
He,  knowing  of  the  Cherry  manuscripts  and 
of  the  sixty  long  years  of  patient,  painstaking 
investigation  and  study  which  gave  them 
birth,  induced  the  author  to  publish  them. 

It  was  Supt.  Fouse's  money  and  force 
which  brought  this  volume  into  existence  by 
generously  financing  the  proposition,  thereby 
making  it  possible  for  the  author  to  lay  before 
the  students  of  tomorrow  the  strenuous  but 
golden  days  of  the  past.  The  author's  grati- 
tude to  the  gentleman  can  not  be  expressed 
in  words. 

—The  Author. 


463294 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Introductory 
Ohio — Poem. 
Ohio. 

The  Pre-Historic  Races  of  America 9 

The  Eries   11 

The  First  Naval  Battle  on  Lake  Erie 29 

The  French  in  Ohio 31 

Pre-Territorial  Military  Expeditions 38 

The  Western  Reserve 56 

Organization  and  Early  Boundaries  of  the  Western  Reserve. .  68 

The  Pioneers  of  the  Western  Reserve 76 

Early  Schools  of  the  Western  Reserve 96 

The  Common  School  Fund 109 

Early  Spelling  School   Ill 

Pioneer  Colleges  of  the  Western  Reserve 115 

The  Home  of  Mormonism 118 

Colonial  Activities  of  the  Western  Reserve 120 

Colonial  Resources  140 

Early  Outfits   145 

The  Old  Man  of  the  Woods 147 

Will  'o  Wisp 149 

First  Post  Masters  and  Early  Post  Routes 153 

Indians  of  the  Cuyahoga  Valley  and  Portage  Lakes 163 

Indian  Trails   176 

Noted  Indian  Chiefs  on  the  Reserve 193 

Tecumseh — The  Last  of  Ohio's  Great  Chieftains 202 

Indian  Eloquence 212 

Indian  Religious  Festivals 218 

Moravian  Missions  on  the  Cuyahoga  and  Tuscarawas 220 

Smith's  Captivity  on  the  Reserve 230 

Indian  Holmes  242 


strange  Adventures  of  Christian  Fast 245 

Hunters  of  Indians 250 

Brady's  Fight  and  Leap 263 

Adventures  of  Capt.  Delaun  Mills 266 

Adam  and  Andrew  Poe's  Famous  Fight 268 

Boundary  Lines  of  The  Mcintosh  Treaty 274 

Military  Expeditions  Into  the  North- West  Territory 276 

Gen.  Wadsworth's  Army  of  Occupation 284 

Troubles  of  Early  Constables 289 

Early  Counterfeiters  of  the  Cuyahoga  Valley 293 

Building  Perry's  Vessels 803 

New  Portage  as  an  Early  Port 305 

The   Ui  derground   Railway 309 

John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie 322 

Hunters   of  Indians 250 


DEDICATION 

This  volume  is  dedicated  to  the  hoys  and  girls 
of  today,  that  they  may  ever  keep  the  traditions 
and  brave  deeds  of  our  forefathers  as  sacrea 
memories. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Cleveland  in  1796            _              _              -  Frontispiece 

Fort  Island              _              _              _              _  -              5 

Engraved  Battle  Ax                  _              -  -                    12 

Group  of  Implements                   _                    -  -           14 

Stone  Head          _____  16 

Retreat  of  Fries               _                _                _  _            -?/ 

Pre- Historic  iVorks  in  Ashland  County  _                  23 

Group  of  Imflem,ents          ^              -              -  -           25 

Stone  Implements         _                _                _  _                 26 

Erie  Crockery          _              ^              .              .  -           27 

From,  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gnlf  _                  32 

Fort  Hill               -                _                _                _  _            55 

Inscription  Rock           _                _                _  _                 40 

Fort  Whittlesey                  _                _                _  _           57 

Fort  Weymoutii                _              _              _  _                  60 

Fort  Co7ineaiit          ^              -              -              -  -            64 

Cuyahoga  liiver              _              _              _  _                  69 

Pioneer'  Cabin             _            _              _              _  -77 

A  Stockade         _              _              _              _  .                  87 

The  Old  Schoolhouse             _              _              _  _            P7 

An  Early  Clearing                    _                 _  _                 121 
Shining  Deei-           _____          127 

Camping  Scene     "           _              _              _  _                 128 

Fort  D.  T.   Wolbach             _              _              _  .150 

A  Quiet  St7  etch  on  the  Cuyahoga         _  _                  164 
Black  Hazck             _____         171 

Begi?ining  of  Portage  Path                _  _                177 

Path  Crossing  Old  Clearing           _              _  _         180 

Center  of  Indian  Communication            _  _              184 

Pictured   Tree  on  Path                      _              _  .187 

Indian  Statue  on  Portage  Path              _  _                190 

Capt.  Pipe  Wa7'ni7ig  Scout              _              _  -         194 

Pontine  Taking   Up  Hatchet                _  .                  198 

Scioto  War  Trail  Statue                _              _   .  _            236 

Standing  Rock  in  the  Cuyahoga  River  _               264 
Upper  Headquarters  of  Original  Su7'veyors       _         285 

Covered  Bi'idge              _              _              _  _                 287 
John  B7'ozv7i             _____         323 

Jo]i7i  Brozu7i' s  A7'se7ial             _              _  -                  326 

Joh7i  B7'ozv7i's  Mo7iume7it             _              _  _             330 


THE   PRIMITIVE  CUYAHOGA  VALLEY 

There  are  very  many  vallies,  vallies  of  renown. 

But  the  Cuyahoga  valley  was  fairer  than  these. 

And  greener  its  grasses  and  taller  its  trees 

'Ere  the  sound  of  the  ax  in  the  forest  had  rung, 

Or  the  mower  his  scythe  in  the  meadows  had  swung. 

In  their  sheltered  repose  looking  out  from  the  wood, 

The  bark-builded  wigwams  of  the  Ottawas  stood; 

There  glided  the  corn  dance,  the  council-fire  shone. 

And  against  the  red  war-post  the  hatchet  was  thrown. 

There  the  old  smoked  in  silence,  their  pipe,  and  the  young 

To  the  pike  and  the  white  perch  their  baited  lines  flung! 

There  the  boy  shaped  his  arrows,  and  there  the  shy  maid 

Wove  her  many-hued  baskets  and  bright  wampum  braid. 

'0  stream  of  Hopocan!  if  answer  of  thine 

Could  raise  from  thy  waters  to  question  of  mine, 

Methinks  through  the  din  of  thy  thronged  banks  a  moan 

Of  sorrow  would  swell  for  the  days  that  are  gone. 

Not  for  thee,  dull  jar  of  the  loom  and  the  wheel. 

The  gliding  of  shuttles,  the  ringing  of  steel; 

But  that  old  voice  of  water,  of  bird  and  of  breeze, 

The  dip  of  the  wild  fowl,  the  rustling  of  trees. 

Whittier. 


INTRODUCTORY 

Like  the  strains  of  some  long  forgotten  music  the 
memory  of  the  days  of  olden  time  come  knocking  at 
our  door. 

There  is  no  life  so  bleak  or  drear,  but  what  fancy 
can  call  back  from  out  the  shadowy  past  memories  that 
make  us  forget  the  care  and  the  worries  of  our  present 
while  reveling  among  the  brighter  joys  of  the  past. 

I  have  no  excuse  to  offer  in  inflicting  upon  the 
world  another  book.  It  has  been  to  me  a  labor  of  love, 
and  if  it  shall  prove  as  much  comfort  to  any  who  reads 
as  it  has  been  a  joy  to  the  author  in  the  labor  of  com- 
piling this  work,  he  will  feel  amply  paid. 

The  true  history  of  the  world  is  but  the  history 
of  individuals  and  communities.  The  historian  of 
today,  and  of  communities,  has  but  degenerated  into  a 
mere  compiler  of  facts  and  statements  from  lips  that 
have  long  since  crumbled  into  dust;  echoes  from  that 
mystic  shore  from  whence  none  ever  return. 

The  writer  has  tried  to  present  a  true  picture  of 
the  Pioneer  days  of  the  Reserve.  The  matter  given  is 
truth,  not  fiction,  and  whatever  may  have  been  his 
failings,  he  has  endeavored  to  do  his  best.  He  is  well 
aware  that  there  were  many  men  far  more  capable  of 
performing  this  task,  but  they  did  not,  and  the  spirit 
of  the  past  came  upon  him  and  he  did  his  best — ^what 
more  can  a  man  do? 

It  is  the  story  of  the  struggles,  privations  and 
triumphs,  not  of  a  race,  but  of  a  class  as  distinctive  as 
a  race.  No  other  people  cast  in  the  same  mould  could 
have  brought  about  the  same  results,  or  brought  forth 
a  people  who  would  in  such  a  near  future  direct  the 
policy  of  the  whole  American  Nation. 

Where  is  there  a  section  containing  but  3,500,000 
acres  that  could  in  a  period  of  time  covering  but  little 


more  than  fifty  years,  from  a  dense  and  frowning  wil- 
derness produce  such  men  as  Benjamin  F.  Wade, 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Rufus  P.  Spalding,  David  Todd, 
James  R.  Garfield,  and  William  McKinley;  sounding 
from  high  places  solemn  words  of  warning  and  advice 
or  directing  the  ship  of  State  in  troublous  waters  with 
breakers  looming  just  ahead  ? 

The  fires  of  the  Indians  have  long  since  gone  out 
upon  the  shores  of  our  lakes,  and  upon  the  banks  of 
rushing  streams. 

As  a  race  they  have  withered  from  our  land.  The 
war-whoop  no  longer  sounds  in  the  forest;  the  toma- 
hawk and  scalping  are  seen  no  more.  The  midnight 
conflagration,  massacre,  outrage  and  torture  no  longer 
cries  to  high  heaven  for  its  bloody  vengeance.  The  for- 
est itself  has  disappeared  and  in  its  place  stand  lovely 
homesteads,  pleasant  villages  and  teeming  cities;  the 
rush  and  roar  of  thousands  of  engines  and  pulleys  and 
belts ;  the  whirring  of  countless  wheels  and  spindles 
and  looms;  the  rattle  and  clatter  of  hurrying  multi- 
tudes, who  if  not  happier  are  not  in  danger  of  midnight 
attack,  burning  homes  and  the  shrieks  of  the  tortured. 

The  Athens  of  America  still  stands,  but  her  pion- 
eers, the  cubal  cains,  who  have  broken  her  solitudes  and 
fashioned  her  destinies  and  made  the  beginnings  of  a 
class  of  people,  the  like  of  which  the  world  has  never 
seen  equaled;  they  have  passed  away,  their  names  are 
being  forgotten,  and  their  deeds  have  but  become  tradi- 
tions, dim,  far  away  and  misty.  Let  us  then  do  honor 
to  our  noble  forefathers,  so  brave,  so  patient,  so  trust- 
worthy, so  true  to  their  conceptions  of  God  and  Home 
and  Country. 


•)  .•» 


^1       ,  1    ■>        ,      I  ■»     ,     ■>  ,   ■"    '     '  "> 


OHIO 

"The  sun  never  shone  on  a  country  more  fair 

Than  beautiful,  peerless  Ohio. 
There's  life  in  a  kiss   of  her  rarefied  air, 

Ohio,   prolific   Ohio. 
Her  sons  are  all  valiant  and  noble  and  bright, 

Her  beautiful  daughters  are  just  about  right. 
And  her  babies,  God  bless  them,  are  clear  out  of  sight ; 

That  crop  never  fails  in  Ohio. 

''Our  homes  are  alight  with  a  halo  of  love, 

Ohio,  contented  Ohio; 
We  bask  in  the  light  of  the  heavens  above, 

No  cloud  ever  darkens  Ohio. 
Our  grain  waves  as  billows  of  gold  in  the  sun; 

The  fruits  of  our  orchards  are  equaled  by  none ; 
And  our  pumpkins,  some  of  them  weigh  most  a  ton ! 

We  challenge  the  world  in  Ohio! 

"Our  girls  are  sweet  models  of  maidenly  grace. 

In  this  modern  Eden  Ohio. 
They're  jDerfect  in  figure  and  lovely  in  face. 

That's  what    they    are    in    Ohio. 
Their  smiles  are  bewitching  and  winning  and  sweet ; 

Their  dresses  are  modest,  stylish  and  neat; 
A  Trilby  would  envy  their  cute  little  feet 

In  beautiful  peerless  Ohio. 

"When  the  burdens  of  life  I  am  called  to  lay  down 

I  hope  I  may  die  in   Ohio. 
I  never  could  ask  a  more  glorious  crown 

Than  one   of  the   sod   of   Ohio; 
And  when  the  last  trump  wakes  the  land  and  the  sea. 

And  the  tombs  of  the  earth  set  their  prisoners 
free. 
You  may  all  go  aloft,  if  you  choose,  but  as  for  me, 

I  think  I'll  iust  stay  in  Ohio." 

— Auld. 


OHIO 

"The  hills  of  Ohio,  how  sweetly  they  rise, 

In  beauty  of  nature,  to  blend  with  the  skies, 

With  fair  azure  outline,  and  tall  ancient  trees, 

Ohio,  my  country,  I  love  thee  for  these." 

—Mary  E.  Kail.       1 

I 
In  his  address  delivered  on  "Ohio    Day",    at   thi 

Centennial,  in  Philadelphia,  Edward  P.  Mansfield  said:: 

"Ohio  is,  in  reference  to  the  square  miles  of  it 
surface  the  first  State  in  agriculture  of  the  America. 
Union.  Ohio  has  raised  more  grain  per  square  mile 
than  either  France,  Austria,  or  Great  Britain.  They 
raised  1450  bushels  per  sqaure  mile  and  ten  bushels  to 
each  person.  Ohio  raised  3750  bushels  per  square  mile, 
or  50  bushels  to  each  person.  Ohio  was  the  first  state 
in  the  Union  in  the  production  of  domestic  animals. 

The  coal  fields  of  Ohio  are  vastly  greater  than  that 
of  Great  Britain.  The  10,000  square  miles  of  coal,  and 
4,000  square  miles  of  iron  in  Ohio  are  enough  to  supply 
the  whole  American  Continent  for  ages  to  come. 

From  the  ports  of  Cleveland  and  Cincinnati  the 
vessels  of  Ohio  touch  42,000  miles  of  coast,  and  her 
5,000  miles  of  railroad  carry  her  products  to  every  part 
of  the  country. 

Ohio  has  more  than  kept  pace  with  New  York  and 
New  England  in  the  progress  of  manufactures  during 
the  last  twenty  years. 

Ohio  is  the  first  state  in  the  Union,  as  to  the  pro- 


OHIO 

portion  of  her  youth  attending  school.  Ohio  has  taxed 
itself  tens  of  millions  of  dollars  beyond  its  land  grants 
of  640  acres  to  every  township,  to  found  and  maintain 
a  system  of  education  which  the  world  has  not  sur- 
passed. 

With  this  knowledge,  it  is  not  difficult  to  say  that 
the  future  will  produce  more,  and  in  far  greater  ratio, 
than  the  past.  The  pictured  scenes  of  the  prophets 
have  already  been  more  than  fulfilled,  and  the  visions 
of  beauty  and  glory,  which  their  imagination  failed 
fully  to  describe,  will  be  more  than  realized  in  the 
bloom  of  that  garden  which  republican  America  will 
present  to  the  eyes  of  astonished  mankind.  Long  be- 
fore another  century  shall  have  passed  by  the  single 
State  of  Ohio  will  present  four  fold  the  population  with 
which  the  thirteen  States  began  their  independence, 
more  wealth  than  the  entire  Union  now  has;  greater 
universities  than  any  now  in  the  country,  and  a  de- 
velopment of  arts  and  manufactures  which  the  world 
knows  nothing  of. 

A  state  that  began  long  after  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  in  the  then  unknown  wilderness  of  North 
America,  presents  the  fairest  example  of  what  a  repub- 
lican government,  with  Christian  civilization  can  do. 

Where  is  the  civilization  on  Earth  can  equal  this? 

During  the  Civil  War,  Ohio  furnished  327  regi- 
ments of  her  citizen  soldiery  or  nearly  one-eighth  of 
the  entire  Union  force  in  the  field.  Whitlaw  Reid  says : 
'The  patriotic  dead  of  Ohio  lie  upon  every  battle  field 
in  the  Southland.  They  lie  where  they  fell,  forming  a 
vidette  line  half  across  the  continent,  a  chain  of  pros- 
trate sentinels  2,000  miles  long,   still  guarding  with 


OHIO 

their  clay  the  glory  and  integrity  of  the  great  republic". 
Seven  years  after  Ohio  had  been  admitted  as  a 
State  she  had  doubled  her  population  five  times ;  ten 
years  later  she  had  doubled  it  fourteen  times.  Twenty- 
seven  years  after  her  admission  her  population  had 
doubled  twent^^-two  times.  From  nothing,  from  the 
Seventeenth  place,  Ohio  won  the  third  place  and  has 
held  it  for  over  60  years.  The  enormous  growth  of  the 
State  is  best  shown  by  the  annexed  table  of  population : 

1803 42,150 

1810 230,760 

1820 581,295 

1830 937,903 

1840 1,519,467 

1850 1,980,329 

1860 2,339,511 

1870 2,665,260 

1880 3,198,062 

1890 3,372,376 

1900 4,157,549 

Ohio  was  the  first  state  settled  by  people  of  our 
own  country.  Other  states  had  been  settled  by  people 
from  other  countries,  but  Ohio  was  the  first  state  to 
be  populated  by  people  of  that  great  democratic  power 
that  had  wrested  the  colonies  of  America  from  the 
hands  of  Great  Britain,  and  had  erected  the  greatest 
republic  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Ohio  was  settled  by 
the  best  blood  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  hers  was 
the  first  territory  to  be  representative  of  the  entire 
people.  The  amalgamation  of  the  flower  of  the  best 
blood  in  the  original  thirteen  colonies  was  to  be  blended 
by  the  process  of  time  and  evolution  into  a  great  dis- 
tinctive people.  Of  all  the  States,  Ohio  stood  alone  for 
a  generation  and  a  quarter  for  what  was  best  in  Nation- 

3 


OHIO 

al  life,  character  and  conscience.  Whenever  National 
life  demanded  a  victim,  a  leader,  a  way,  or  a  plan,  Ohio 
was  always  the  first  to  throw  herself  into  the  breach, 
and  it  is  to  the  skill  of  her  generals,  the  wisdom  of  her 
statesmen,  and  to  the  directness  and  conservatism  of 
her  conscience,  that  the  National  life  is  what  it  is 
to-day. 

From  the  seventeenth  place  in  the  rank  of  States 
in  1803  she  advanced  by  quick  and  sturdy  strides  to  the 
thirteenth  place  in  1810;  to  the  fifth  place  in  the 
next  ten  years,  and  to  the  third  place  in  the  next  suc- 
ceeding twenty  years. 

Very  gracious  are  the  words  coming  from  a  sister 
state  when  Alfred  Mathew^s  says:  "But  Ohio  had  par- 
ents. It  had  progenitors.  It  was  the  child  of  purpose. 
Its  career  was  most  kindly  conserved  and  promoted  by 
destiny  and  fortuitous  circumstance,  but  it  owed  much 
to  good  birth.  The  ordinance  of  1787  clothed  the  soil 
with  law  before  the  foot  of  authorized  settlement  fell 
upon  it.  Ohio  by  her  vast  growth  in  population,  by  the 
multiform  character  as  well  as  the  magnitude  of  her 
national  development,  by  the  effectiveness  of  the  exer- 
tion of  her  enormous  strength  for  the  Union,  and  by 
the  exercise  and  outcome  of  her  influence  upon  the 
Nation,  long  ago  arrived  at  that  dignity  of  position 
which  is  claimed  in  the  matter  of  her  State  seal,  of  be- 
ing literally  an  empire  within  an  empire — IMPERIUM 
IN  IMPERIO. 

And  thus  located  in  the  middle  country,  looking 
westward  to  the  homes  of  her  sons,  and  eastward  to 
those  of  her  sires,  the  horizon  of  her  interest  and  her 
influence  is  broadened  to  the  bounds  of  the  union  itself ; 


OHIO 

and  while  contemplating  her  own  achievements,  and 
feeling  her  own  strength— of  which  she  first  became 
fully  conscious  in  the  period  of  the  Civil  War — she 
turns  reverently  the  page  of  history,  to  be  reminded 
that  she  is  the  creature  of  the  Nation ;  that  her  founda- 
tions were  lain  by  the  people  of  ALL  the  States,  that 
her  existence  was  decreed  and  directed  by  the  legal  en- 
actments of  the  Nation  and  that  she  was  in  fact  the 
first  product  of  Nationalism." 

The  wondrous  growth  of  the  state  can  be  seen  at 
a  glance  when  we  realize  that  at  the  time  of  her  birth 
with  less  than  43,000  population,  she  in  less  than  sixty 
years,  offered  for  the  preservation  of  National  honor, 
more  than  340,000  of  her  choicest  sons,  leaving  as  a 
tribute  to  the  sacredness  and  imperishability  of  the 
Federal  Union  24,564  of  her  loved  ones  on  the  sandy 
plains  and  sunny  hillsides  of  the  Southland ;  more  than 
half  her  population  when  she  sought  Statehood,  and 
sixteen  per  cent  greater  loss  than  that  incurred  by  the 
British  and  American  soldiery  during  the  entire  prog- 
ress of  the  Revolutionary  War.  France  asserted  own- 
ership of  the  territory  now  constituting  Ohio  from  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713  until  the  treaty  of  Paris  in 
1763.  When  the  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  in  Paris 
in  1783  and  ratified  by  the  U.  S.  congress  in  1784  the 
paper  right  was  vested  in  the  United  States. 

In  1750  George  Washington  passed  over  Portage 
Path  and  descended  the  Tuscarawas  River  to  the  Wal- 
honding.  In  1774  the  British  Parliament  passed  an  act 
making  the  Ohio  river  the  south-western  boundary  of 
Canada  and  the  Mississippi  river  its  western  boundary. 

Fort  Laurens,  the  first  parapeted  and  stockaded 


OHIO 

fort  in  the  present  Ohio,  was  erected  on  the  Tuscarawas 
river  in  1776.  Virginia  acquired  a  title  to  the  north- 
western territory  from  which  six  great  states  have 
been  formed,  notably  Ohio,  by  virtue  of  several  char- 
ters granted  by  James  I  of  England,  bearing  dates  re- 
spectively April  10,  1606,  May  23,  1609,  and  March  12, 
1611.  In  1769  Virginia  created  the  county  of  Bote- 
tourt, consisting  of  all  of  Ohio  and  adjoining  territory. 
In  1783  this  territory  was  conveyed  to  the  United 
States  by  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  and  signed  by 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  James  Monroe. 

Congress  on  July  13,  1787,  created  the  North- 
western Territory  and  also  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
known  as  the  Ordinance  of  Freedom.  Ohio  for  all  time 
was  to  be  free.  The  first  settlement  in  Ohio  was  at 
Marietta,  in  1786,  under  the  auspices  of  Major  Generals 
Putnam  and  Parsons  and  Col.  Return  Jonathan  Meigs. 
The  second  grade  of  territorial  government,  although 
passed  in  1778,  did  not  actually  take  place  until  Sep- 
tember, 1799.  The  first  act  of  the  territorial  govern- 
ment was  to  establish  a  militia.  Two  days  thereafter 
Gov.  St.  Clair  established  the  county  of  Washington 
including  all  the  territory  east  of  the  Scioto  river  to 
Lake  Erie  and  south  to  the  Ohio  river,  Marietta  the 
county  seat.  Trumbull  county  was  established  July  10, 
1800  including  all  of  the  Western  Reserve  with  its 
county  seat  at  Warren.  Ohio  became  the  17th  state  in 
the  Union  on  Mar.  3,  1803.  David  Abbot  and  Samuel 
Huntington  being  the  representatives  of  Trumbull 
county. 

Ohio  with  her  88  counties  stands  today  as  an  ex- 
ample of  w^hat  democracy  can  do  for  a  nation;  a  bul- 


OHIO 


work  of  freedom,  a  hope  and  an  inspiration  to  the  op- 
pressed of  every  clime,  and  always  a  saving  grace  to 
the  nation  to  w^hich  she  owes  her  birth. 


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V  V  V 


-/^M^     ^y    C  c^i^Stt^^,   c?  3:Jj£J:;!iC5b-?1^4jj 


e 


T*A<.  Z7<^«y'^  St~eL<.x^^  ^  ?"^  u?/ulc^  * 


c^£i^    /■"'-■•" 


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>s  r^^t.  itv«  rt  V.  iD      '  ' 


THE  PRE-HISTORIC  RACES  OF  OHIO 

Forty-five  years  ago  it  was  thought  that  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Valleys  were  inhabited  by  one  race — 
the  Mound  Builders — but  recent  investigations  have 
disproved  that  fact.  There  were  Mound  builders  and 
mound  builders.  While  the  same  generic  name  covered 
all,  yet  they  were  separate  and  distinctive  races,  no 
matter  how  closely  related. 

The  Mound  Builders  of  Central  and  Southern  Ohio 
were  a  distinctive  race  from  the  Mound  Builders  of 
Northern  Ohio,  of  Wisconsin  and  of  the  southern  states. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  far  back  to  prove  their 
existence  as  a  race,  or  their  dispersal  as  a  factor  of 
good  or  evil  in  the  Ohio  Valley. 

Was  the  white  race  that  was  destroyed  on  the  Ohio 
river  at  the  first  coming  of  the  eastern  six  nations,  a 
remnant  of  the  Mound  Builders?  The  question  must 
remain  unanswered  for  the  present.  Time  may  pos- 
sibly solve  the  problem. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  go  back  much  beyond 
four  hundred  years  to  prove  the  cause  of  the  dispersal 
of  these  races.  The  evidence  when  found,  will  not  be 
found  in  the  heavens,  nor  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  nor 
under  it,  BUT  IN  IT. 

Limitations  of  space  compel  us  to  pass  over  this 
subject  lightly.  In  1875  there  were  some  10,000  of 
these  works  yet  to  be  seen  in  the  state,  the  most  im- 
portant were  Grave  Greek  mound,  just  across  the  river 
from  Dille's  Bottom.     It  is  900  feet  in  circumference 


THE  PRE-HISTORIC  RACES 

and  75  feet  high.  The  Serpent  Mound  in  Adams  coun- 
ty, about  1300  feet  long,  twenty  wide  and  five  high,  Hes 
with  open  jaws  100  feet  above  Brush  Creek.  The 
works  at  Circleville,  Newark  and  Marietta,  Fort  Ancient 
in  Warren  county,  are  nearly  a  mile  long  and  236  feet 
above  the  river.  The  mound  at  Marietta  is  115  feet  in 
diameter  and  30  feet  high.  The  wall  or  embankment 
of  Fort  Hill  in  Highland  county  is  8,582  feet  long,  base 
25  feet  wide  with  an  outer  ditch  of  50  feet  inclosing  35 
acres,  and  lies  500  feet  above  Brush  Creek.  The  Great 
Mound,  near  Miamisburg,  Montgomery  county,  on  an 
elevation  over  a  hundred  feet  above  the  Miami  river, 
is  67  feet  high  and  800  feet  in  circumference.  The 
Alligator  Mound  is  near  Granville,  Licking  county.  In 
1875  the  banks  of  the  Newark  works  in  places  were  yet 
75  feet  in  height.  These  works  covered  live  square 
miles  of  territory  and  were  said  to  connect  with  those 
thirty  miles  distant. 


THEERIES 

At  the  time  of  their  discovery  by  the  French  Jesuit 
Fathers  and  as  near  as  can  be  determined,  the  Fries 
occupied  a  narrow  strip  of  country  abutting  on  the 
southern  shores  of  Lake  Erie — and  eastward. 

Beginning  at  ''Redstone  Old  Fort,"  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, they  passed  north wes-ternly  up  the  ''Riverie  Aux 
Boeuf"  of  the  French  to  Presque  Isle  thence  west- 
wardly,  following  the  conformation  of  the  lake  shore 
to  the  present  site  of  Sandusky  occupying  the  lake 
islands  and  having  their  chief  town  at  Conneaut. 

The  Cuyahoga  seemed  to  have  been  their  favorite 

river  and  the  rich  alluvial  deposits  of  its  bottom  lands, 

as  well  as  those  of  Rocky  River,  were  laid  under  con- 
tribution for  the  purpose  of  such  limited  cultivation  as 

they  practiced. 

Just  below  the  Portage  Path,  hugging  close  to 
the  41st  meridian,  lay  64  fresh  water  lakes  stocked 
with  savory  fish  and  frequented  by  many  varieties  of 
wild  fov/1,  while  the  surrounding  forests  w^ere  filled 
with  game  of  many  kinds,  including  bear,  deer,  elk, 
bison,  and  even  that  lordly  creature  of  a  dead  age — the 
Mammoth,  whose  bones  are  yet  quite  frequently  found 
in  swampy  grounds. 

The  steep  banks  enclosing  the  Cuyahoga  Valley 
from  the  highlands  were  seamed  and  lined  with  their 
fortifications,  signal  stations  and  watch  towers.  A  sig- 
nal fire  lighted  on  Point  Lookout  could  be  seen  at  the 
mouth    of   the  ''Crooked   River"  at   Lake   Erie,    some 

II 


THE  ERIES 

thirty  miles  distant ;  every  mile,  almost,  was  lined  with 
some  of  the  works  of  this  mysterious  people. 

From  the  head  of  the  canoe  navigation  on  the  Cuy- 
ahoga they  evidently  crossed  over  that  old  national 
highway  of  the  Indian  nations  of  the  "Ohio  Country." 
Whoever  had  access  to  the  valley  of  the  ''crooked  river" 
the  portage,  or  'Tortage  Path,"  as  it  is  known  today, 
was  the  shortest,  the  most  direct,  and  the  driest,  every 
foot  being  on  solid  ground,  of  any  of  the  portages  on 
the  "from  the  Gulf  to  the  Great  Lakes  route." 

Passing  over  this  portage  to  where  the  city  of 
Akron  now  stands,  they  built,  a  few  miles  to  the  west- 
ward, in  the  center  of  Copley  swamp,  impassable  at 
that  time  unless  bridged,  and  entirely  surrounded  by  a 
shallow  fresh  water  lake,  the,  at  the  time,  impregnable 
works  of  Fort  Island. 

Passing  a  couple  of  miles  to  the  south,  but  on  the 
west  side  of  the  valley,  just  clear  of  the  swamps,  they 
built  on  the  highest  promontory  in  that  section  a  stone 
signal  station  whose  light  could  have  been  seen,  not 
only  at  the  Portage  Path  and  Fort  Island,  but  from  the 
highlands  in  Wadsworth  and  Fort  Houtz,  the  Kointown 
of  the  ancient  Eries. 

Forming  a  junction  with  the  Portage  Path  on  the 
present  site  of  Akron,  there  ran  from  time  immemorial 
an  ancient  war  trace  or  trail  that  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury was  known  as  the  "Great  Scioto  War  Trail."  Bear- 
ing south  of  west,  it  ran  in  the  shortest  and  most  direct 
way  through  the  present  counties  of  Wayne  and  Ash- 
land. 

The  ancient  Kointown,  the  new  temporary  capital 
of  the  Eries,  was  built  on  the  heights  across  the  Chip- 

13 


GROUP  OF  IMPLEMENTS    - 
Descoidal  Stone.     2.   Flint  Drill.     3.  Slate  Implement.     4.   Flint  Implement 


THE  ERIES 

pewa  River  from  this  hard,  well-beaten  national  high- 
way of  the  Indian  Nations  of  the  "Ohio  Country." 

From  Kointown  the  fortifications  and  village  walls 
of  the  Eries  ran  west  and  south  as  far  as  the  present 
site  of  Richland  County,  showing  conclusively  that 
after  their  expulsion  from  the  Cuyahoga  Valley  that 
for  years  they  must  have  enjoyed  comparative  peace 
in  order  to  have  built  so  many  miles  of  village  walls  and 
places  of  defense.  All  of  these  were  in  touch  with 
Kointown  through  the  use  of  signal  stations  which  still 
continued  westwardly  by  the  use  of  which  the  war- 
riors of  the  outlying  stations  could  be  summoned  in 
case  of  need. 

It  must  not  be  overlooked  that,  whereas  the  signal 
stations  of  the  Cuyahoga  Valley  ran  north  and  south, 
those  of  the  Chippewa  and  Mohican  valleys  ran  east 
and  west. 

Either  from  lack  of  room,  or  apparently  not  satis- 
lied  with  building  a  new  home  near  the  41st  meridian 
of  north  latitude,  they  extended  their  possessions  and 
continued  down  the  Great  Scioto  War  Trail,  still  bear- 
ing south  of  west  until  the  present  edge  of  Ashland 
county  w^as  reached.  Here,  struck  with  the  topograph- 
ical possibilities  of  building  effective  defensive  works 
in  which  to  dwell  in  peace,  or,  it  may  be,  to  make  a 
third  stand  against  the  hordes  of  the  Five  Nations, 
armed  with  "the  white  man's  thunder,"  or,  whatever 
the  impulse,  they  again  got  busy  on  their  elaborate 
forts  and  miles  of  simple,  earthen  village  walls,  which 
no  doubt  were  palisaded,  and  were  hastily  constructed. 

These  works,  remarkable  in  many  particulars,  are 
situated  from  fifteen  to  thirty  miles  west  of  Kointown 

15 


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THE  ERIES 

and  from  two  to  twenty  miles  south,  and  could  have 
been  reached  by  an  Indian  runner  in  the  course  of  a 
few  hours,  providing  he  kept  to  the  well-beaten  war 
trace. 

The  defensive  works  of  this  people  were  generally 
found  at  the  head  of  valleys  through  which  ran  streams 
of  living  waters.  No  v\^ater,  no  fort.  Or  else,  jutting 
out  from  some  prominent  point  in  its  most  inaccesable 
places,  giving  a  commanding  view  of  both  valley  and 
surrounding  country.  The  low  earthen  walls  as  found 
in  these  works  for  the  last  50  or  75  years,  would  seem 
to  indicate  that  they  would  form  a  little  protection 
against  a  savage  foe,  even  if  armed  with  war  clubs, 
bow^s  and  spears,  yet  the  conclusion  may  be  a  little 
hasty.  The  winds  and  rains,  the  hail  and  snow  of  a 
thousand  storms,  sweeping  in  all  their  fierce  wild 
grandeur  over  an  abandoned  and  desolate  country  could 
only  have  helped  to  lower  these  earthen  walls  and  flat- 
ten their  bases  year  by  year.  Did  we  know  how  long 
and  how  many  inches  each  year  were  lowered  by  weath- 
er conditions  then  indeed  we  could  form  some  idea  of 
their  former  glory  not  incompatable  with  their  present 
condition. 

It  may  be  stated  with  some  degree  of  certainty 
that  ordinary  village  walls  were  no  less  than  ten  feet 
in  height  and  on  the  top  of  these  were  planted  pickets, 
set  closely  together,  formed  from  the  bodies  of  small 
trees,  no  doubt  of  an  equal  height  of  the  embankments, 
making  no  mean  defensive  works  even  in  pioneer  days. 

Such  fortified  Indian  towns  were  found  in  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  Georgia  and  Florida  before  and  after 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

17 


THE  ERIES 

Mr.  Shea  has  stated  that  the  Hurons,  Eries  and 
other  Indian  Nations  occupied  such  fortified  places  and 
such  is  the  opinion  of  all  great  historians  and  the  ma- 
jority of  our  Archaeologists  and  Antiquarians,  and 
such  is  the  testimony  of  the  Jesuits  who  penetrated  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  mysterious  Erie  Nation. 

These  works  were  perched  on  crags,  promontories 
and  the  most  inaccesible  places  where  neither  man  nor 
goat  could  hardly  obtain  a  foothold.  If  built  on  a  nar- 
row neck  of  land  pushing  its  precipitous  sides  out  into 
the  valley  it  would  have  two  or  three  lines  of  parallel 
embankments  built  across  the  narrowest  point,  next  to 
the  mainland,  where,  if  defeated  at  one  abattis  they 
could  retreat  to  another,  thus  having  their  foes  in  a 
pen  where  it  would  be  equally  impossible  to  go  back- 
ward as  well  as  forward. 

These  people  did  not  take  to  true  circles  and  half 
circles  like  the  mound  builders  of  central  and  southern 
Ohio,  but  were  inclined  to  build  in  squares  and  parallel- 
ograms where  they  could  not  conform  their  walls  to  the 
sides  of  steep  ridges  or  deep  gullies. 

The  double  or  triple  line  of  embankments  were 
characteristic  of  this  giant  race  of  red  men. 

Outside  of  the  scanty  details  furnished  by  Father 
LeMoyne,  Claude  Dablon  and  other  Jesuit  Fathers,  the 
only  white  men,  so  far  as  is  known,  who  ever  saw  the 
Eries,  and  the  very  meagre  and  conflicting  traditions  of 
the  Five  Nations,  there  is  but  little  to  go  on  except  the 
guesswork  of  a  few  historians  and  the  fading  records 
left  on  the  face  of  mother  earth. 

All  indications  point  to  the  fact  that  Conneaut  was 

18 


THE  ERIES 

the  capital  town    and  bej'ond  this  the  Jesuit    fathers 
were  not  allowed  to  go. 

Two  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  ago  this 
strange  people  boasted  of  no  less  than  28  villages  and 
twelve  town-forts,  w^hich  contained  an  estimated  pop- 
ulation of  12,000  people  and  4,000  warriors.  Of  these 
villages  and  forts  the  writer,  after  forty  years  of  per- 
sonal investigation  and  exploration,  has  relocated  32. 
There  were  no  doubt  low  villages  which  had  been 
obliterated  fifty  years  ago  by  the  ruthless  plow  in  the 
hands  of  vandal  man.  No  record  has  ever  been  made 
of  these,  as  half  a  century  ago  they  were  looked  upon 
by  the  agriculturist  as  of  no  value ;  mere  evidence  of 
"Injun"  occupation  and  of  no  especial  value  or  interest. 
Then  again,  there  might  have  been  works  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, east  of  her  west  state  line,  of  which  the  writer 
was  not  cognizant. 

Fifty  years  ago  these  works  possessed  character- 
istics all  their  own,  entirely  different  from  the  "mound- 
builders"  works  of  central  and  southern  Ohio,  Indiana 
and  Wisconsin.  The  works  in  northern  Ohio  are  mostly 
built,  not  on  second  terraces,  but  in  the  highest,  most 
sightly,  picturesque  and  inaccessable  places  in  their 
locality,  showing  that  these  people  were  great  lovers 
of  beautiful  scenery  and  natural  surprises,  as  well  as 
good  engineers  for  their  condition  and  age  of  the 
world. 

Although  not  what  is  called  a  warlike  people  in 
the  general  acceptance  of  the  term ;  in  the  sense  of  a 
people  who  make  war  on  their  neighbors  on  one  pretext" 
or  another,  or    no  pretext  at  all  ,yet    they  knew  how 
to  fight  when  it  came  to  defending  home  and  family, 

19 


THE  ERIES 

and  native  land.  The  slogan  of  some  of  our  forefath- 
ers was  "  America  for  Americans".  Theirs  was  "the 
Erie  country  for  the  Eries".  Their  great  height  and 
strength  terrorized  their  foemen  and  added  to  their 
invincebility  for  many  decades,  serving  to  preserve 
the  peace  among  the  Nations.  But  the  English  were 
jealous  of  them  supposing  them  to  be  under  French 
influence  because  they  held  aloof  from  them  as  they 
did  from  all  others.  In  reality,  in  exclusiveness,  they 
were  the  Chinese  of  the  American  wilderness.  The 
English  were  very  jealous  of  the  French  and  of  their 
encroachments  on  American  soil,  and  possessing  no 
knowledge  of  them  at  all  except  that  furnished  by 
individuals  of  the  Five  Nations,  whose  natural  enemies 
they  were,  they  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  "French  Indians",  and  made  preparations  to  dis- 
perse them  by  arming  their  allies,  the  Five  Nations, 
with  the  modern  weapons  of  that  day — "The  White 
Man's  Big  Thunder",  and  sent  them  out  to  destroy  the 
people  of  their  unjust  suspicions. 

Organizing  a  primitive  force  of  extraordinary  and 
unusual  size  the  Five  Nations  made  their  journey  by 
canoes  along  the  eastern  and  southern  shores  of  Lake 
Erie  until  they  reached  the  first  town  of  the  Eries, 
which  undoubtedly  was  Conneaut,  Ohio.  The  Eries 
were  taken  completely  by  surprise  and  the  40,000  Iro- 
quois warriors  terrorized  t^iem,  no  less  by  their  num- 
bers than  the  explosive  fire  arms  they  carried,  a 
weapon  the  Eries  had  never  seen  or  heard  before. 
Using  their  canoes  as  scaling  ladders  by  placing  them 
against  the  parapeted  picket  walls  the  savages  of  the 
east  swarmed  like  flies  up  and  over  their  fortifications. 

20 


RETREAT  OF  THE  ERIES 

The  Eries  fought  hke  demons  but  the  battle  was  lost 
from  the  beginning.  Force  of  numbers  and  terror 
of  fire-arms  had  done  their  work,  and  those  not  killed 
were  either  captured  or  escaped  to  the  forests.  Loaded 
down  with  their  captives  the  invaders  made  their  way 


21 


THE  ERIES 

to  their  eastern  home  villages,  where  for  months  the 
nights  were  made  hideous  by  the  burning  and  torture 
by  the  stake  of  their  unfortunate   captured  Eries. 

How  long  this  war  of  extermination  continued  no 
man  knows  but  years  afterwards  adventurous  priests 
witnessed  the  burning  of  Eries  in  the  villages  of  the 
Five  Nations. 

The  Eries  were  armed  with  the  most  primitive 
weapons — bows  and  arrows,  the  stone  ax  and  the  stone- 
headed  war  club.  Along  the  lake  shore  fort  after 
fort  must  have  fallen  until  like  the  Moors  they  must 
have  recognized  the  fact  that  they  were  gradually 
being  driven  from  the  graves  of  their  fathers  and 
from  the  land  they  had  called  their  own  so  long. 

From  1634  to  1666  and  probably  later,  this  war 
of  giants  raged  with  unabated  fury.  It  was  strength 
and  rude  weapons  against  numbers  and  modern  weap- 
ons, and  the  later  w^on. 

Just  when  the  exodus  from  the  lake  shore  began 
no  one  knows,  but  it  was  by  the  way  of  the  Cuyahoga 
and  Fvocky  River  valleys.  Whole  decades  must  have 
been  employed  to  build  the  defensive  work  of  the  lonely, 
crooked  Cuyahoga  alone.  Slowly  and  sadly  the  Eries 
fell  back  from  the  beloved  shores  of  the  great  lake, 
but  stubbornly  contesting  every  foot  of  soil.  They 
were  no  cravens,  and  had  resolved  if  they  could  not 
live  upon  their  land  they  would  die  upon  it.  The  spirit 
of  freedom,  from  the  earliest  times,  was  born  upon 
the  soil  of  the  Western  Reserve — long  before  Paul 
Revere's  ride,  or  the  lanterns  were  hung  from  the  old 
North  Church.  After  the  war  for  freedom  the  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  largely  settled  here  be- 

22 


THE  ERIES 


K' 


PRE-HISTORIC  WORKS  IN  ASHLAND  COUNTY 

A.     Fort  Tyler.         B.     Fort  Glenn.         C.     Fort  Metcalf.         E.     Mohican  John's  Town 

F.     Fort  Gamble.         G.     Fort  Bryte.         H.     Fort  Stoner.         1.     Fort  Shambaugh 

K.     Hell  Town.         3.     Fort  Parr.         23.     Greentown. 

cause  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  ''old  Congress"  had 
guaranteed  the  land  'Torever  Free" — it  could  never 
bear  the  tread  of  slaves  .  It  was  the  home  of  "the 
underground  railroad",  the  hot-bed  of  the  anti-slavery 

23 


THE  ERIES 

movement  and  the  residence  of  such   men   as   Charles 
B.  Storrs  of  Hudson,  and  John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie. 

The  very  scent  of  freedom  was  in  the  air  and  soil 
the  savage  first  owners  left  behind. 

As  stated  before,  the  Erie  retreat  was  made  south- 
ward by  the  Cuyahoga  and  Rocky  River  valleys.  While 
the  latter  river  bore  but  two  defensive  works  outside 
its  mouth,  the  valley  of  the  Cuyahoga  was  lined  and 
seamed  with  them  from  beginning  to  end.  Few  of  them 
exist  today. 

How  long  they  occupied  the  Cuyahoga  Valley  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  but  it  must  have  been  for  decades. 
Their  first  act  after  resolving  to  move  to  the  south- 
west was  to  build  Fort  Island,  in  Copley  Swamp,  at  that 
time  an  impregnable  position,  but  too  small  to  accom- 
modate but  a  small  portion  of  their  people.  It  was 
an  advanced  but  secure  outpost. 

From  near  the  present  site  of  Akron  signal  sta- 
tions ran  southwestwardly  as  far  as  Richland  County, 
on  which  in  times  of  danger  fires  leaped  and  sparkled 
as  they  did  on  a  thousand  crags  of  Scotland,  warning 
of  a  Claverhouse,  or  calling  the  clans  together  in  com- 
mon defense  of  home  and  country.  Everj^  foot  of  ter- 
ritory was  fought  over  in  order  to  conquer  this  mighty 
race. 

Establishing  their  temporary  headquarters  on  the 
Chippewa,  they  built  new  village  walls  and  defensive 
works  as  far  west  as  the  eastern  line  of  the  present 
county  of  Richland. 

Col.  Charles  Whittlesey,  President  of  the  North- 
ern Ohio  and  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society,  a 
former  Talmadge  boy,  spent  many  years  of  his  life  in 

24 


THEERIES 


3. 


J 


GROUP  OF  IMPLEMENTS 

trying  to  solve  the  question  as  to  where  the  Eries  made 
their  last  stand,  fought  their  last  fight  and  disappeared 
from  mortal  ken.  The  writer  was  then  acting  through 
his  appointment  as  field  agent  for  his  society,  but 
afterwards  became  Secretary  of  the  District  Historical 
Society,  covering  the  ground  of  the  Erie  retreat  and 


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THE  ERIES 


ERIE  CROCKERY 

the  great  historical  tragedy.  The  Colonel,  like  many 
others,  made  the  mistake  of  looking  too  far  afield  for 
what  might  be  found  at  home.  Just  before  his  death, 
the  Colonel  wrote  Dr.  Hill  ''The  town  which  was  the 
scene  of  the  final  battle,  was  somewhere  in  the  interior 
of  Ohio,  called  Kointown — probably  near  a  river — but 
cannot  be  identified."  It  seems  strange  that  Dr.  Hill 
and  Colonel  Whittlesey,  both  of  whom  were  on  the 
same  quest,  should  miss  it  by  so  small  a  margin. 

The  final  battle  was  without  doubt  a  surprise  as 
was  the  first,  but  instead  of  being  cooped  up  it  was 
fought  in  the  open.  It  is  also  very  doubtful  if  the 
Eries  had  the  time  or  the  much  needed  opportunity 
to  summon  all  the  outlying  stations  to  their  assistance. 


27 


THE  ERIES 

The  remnant  that  was  left  were  probably  assimilated 
in  time    into  other  tribes. 

The  village  of  Indians  found  at  Conneaut  by 
Moses  Cleveland  was  thought  to  be  descendants  of  the 
ancient  Eries ;  others  have  claimed  to  have  found 
characteristics  of  this  giant  race  in  other  tribes.  The 
Catawabas,  Kickappoos,  Andastes  and  Massangas  and 
even  the  Shawaneese  have  been  mentioned.  It  is  all 
speculation  and  must  be  taken  at  only  its  real  value 
by  the  reader  and  investigator. 


THE  FIRST  NAVAL  BATTLE  ON  LAKE  ERIE 

Whether  another  naval  battle  was  ever  fought  on 
American  waters  we  know  not,  if  so  we  never  heard  of 
it,  where  both  antagonists  were  Indians. 

At  a  camp-fire  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  shortly 
after  Perry's  victory,  there  were  present  some  of 
Perry's  men,  Gen.  Harrison  and  his  staff,  many  Indian 
chiefs,  among  whom  were  the  great  Chief  Tarhe, 
Black  Snake  and  others. 

Black  Snake,  then  bent  and  crooked  with  the 
weight  of  many  years,  for  he  lived  125  years,  related 
to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  the  following  tale:  ''Many, 
many  suns  ago  before  I  was  born  there  was  another 
great  fight  on  the  big  lake." 

Near  as  this  can  be  ascertained  it  must  have  been 
about  1625.  The  Eries  had  always  had  a  desultory 
warfare  with  their  eastern  neighbors  and  had  con- 
cluded to  organize  a  great  naval  expedition  against 
them,  so  thousands  of  war  canoes  w^ere  gathered  to- 
gether and  set  out  on  their  journey  to  the  head  of  the 
lake  where  Buffalo  now  stands. 

Spies  and  runners  of  the  eastern  tribes  informed 
them  of  the  coming  of  the  Eries,  and  all  the  canoes 
and  w^arriors  that  could  be  hastily  gotten  together 
sailed  to  meet  their  foe. 

They  came  together  on  the  lake  and  slaughter  at 
once  began.  The  lighter  canoes  of. the  eastern  tribes 
could  not  withstand  the  heavier  boats  of  the  Eries  and 
thousands  died  under  the  furious  onslaughter  of  their 

29 


NAVAL  BATTLE  ON  LAKE  ERIE 

I'oemen.  All  the  bodies  that  could  be  gathered  together 
and  all  the  captured  canoes  were  taken  to  the  banks 
of  the  Niagara  River,  heaped  up  and  burned  in  one 
immense  funeral  pyre. 

The  Eastern  Indians  left  living  got  together  and 
formed  a  union  to  resist  and  if  possible  conquer  the 
Eries.  The  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Cayugas,  Onondagoes 
and  Senecas  were  formed  under  the  name  of  the  Five 
Nations.  Some  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  later  the 
Five  Nations  again  met  the  Eries  at  the  foot  of  the 
Canandiagua  Lake,  v/here  the  Five  Nations  were  suc- 
cessful, the  Eries  driven  homeward  follow^ed  for  five 
months  hy  the  warriors  of  the  Five  Nations  who  had 
6,000  men  in  the  battle.  It  is  stated  that  few  of  the 
Eries  ever  reached  home. 

The  Buffalo  Commercial  published  this  afterwards 
and  vouched  for  its  authenticity.  Still  later  the  ac- 
count of  this  great  naval  battle  appeared  in  the  "Ohio 
Farmer". 


THE  FRENCH  IN  OHIO 

Parkman  says: — 'The  first  appearance  of  the 
French  in  Ohio  excited  the  wildest  fears  in  the  tribes 
of  that  quarter,  among-  whom  were  those  who,  dis- 
gusted with  the  encroachments  of  the  Pennsylvanians, 
had  fled  to  these  remote  retreats  to  escape  the  intrus- 
ions of  the  white  men.  Scarcely  was  their  fancied 
asylum  gained  when  they  saw  themselves  invaded  by 
a  host  of  armed  men  from  Canada.  They  knew  not 
which  way  to  turn.  There  was  no  union  in  their  coun- 
sels, and  they  seemed  like  a  mob  of  bewildered  chil- 
dren." 

Celeron  De  Bienville,  knight  of  the  military  order 
of  St.  Louis,  and  the  early  French  explorer,  in 
1749,  in  his  expedition  down  the  Ohio  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  ''Ohio  Country"  for  France,  landed  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.  They  arrived  on  August  22, 
1749,  and  departed  on  the  26th.  Here  there  had  been 
for  years  a  Shawanese  village  and  living  with  them  a 
party  of  English  traders.  These  under  the  orders  of 
the  Marquis  de  la  Gallissonneire,  Governor-in-Chief  of 
New  France,  he  warned  away.  He  had  under  him  a 
chaplain,  eight  subaltern  officers,  six  cadets,  twenty 
soldiers,  180  Canadians  and  thirty  Iroquois  and  Abin- 
akis  Indians.  This  expedition  crossed  over  from  Can- 
ada, and  embarking  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Alle- 
gheny, floated  into  the  Ohio  and  down  that  stream. 
Celeron  left  no  plate  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.  He 
however,  planted  six  plates  at  the  mouths  of  the  Kan- 

31 


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THE  FRENCH  IN  OHIO 

ciwha,  Muskingum,  the  Great  Miami,  etc.  The  plate 
designed  for  the  Scioto  was  stolen  by  an  Indian,  a 
Seneca,  who  in  the  winter  of  1749-50  delivered  it  to 
Gov.  Clinton.  Translated  it  reads : — ''In  the  year  1749, 
the  reign  of  Louis  XV,  King  of  France,  we  Celeron, 
Commandant  of  a  detachment  sent  by  Monseur  the 
Marquis  of  Galliesonniere  Commander  in  Chief  of  New 
France,  to  establish  tranquility  in  certain  Indian  vil- 
lages of  these  Cantons  have,  buried  this  plate  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  of  To-ra-da-Koin,  this  29th 
of  Juh' — near  the  river  Ohio,  otherwise  Beautiful 
River,  as  a  monument  of  renewal  of  possession,  which 
we  have  taken  of  said  river,  and  of  all  its  tributaries 
and  of  all  the  land  on  both  sides,  as  far  as  the  sources 
of  said  river." 

The  plate  at  Marietta  was  found  in  1793,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Muskingum,  and  that  on  the  Kenawha 
in  1846. 

Christopher  Gist  visited  here  in  1751.  It  was 
Lower  Town.  Logstowm,  fourteen  miles  below  Fort 
Pitt,  was  Uppertown.  The  former  consisted  of  300 
men  and  100  houses  besides  a  council  house  90  feet 
long.  On  the  Kentucky  side  there  were  forty  houses. 
On  his  return  home  De  Bienville  ascended  the  Ohio  in 
boats  to  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  thence  up  that 
stream  as  far  as  Piqua,  where  he  burned  his  boats, 
and  procuring  ponies,  made  his  way  to  a  new  French 
Fort  on  the  site  of  Fort  Wayne,  from  where  he  made 
his  way  to  Montreal..  On  his  way  up  he  stopped  at 
Pickawillany,  just  below  the  mouth,  on  the  northeast 
side  of  the  Great  Miami,  to  be  precise,  at  the  mouth  of 
Loramie  Creek.     Here  he  buried  his  plate.     The  Eng- 

33 


THE  FRENCH  IN  OHIO 

lish  called  the  town  "Old  Brittain",  the  French  "Dem- 
oiselle". These  Indians  had  recently  come  from  Can- 
ada and  De  Bienville  tried  to  induce  them  to  return  but 
failed.  Leaving  four  half-barrels  of  powder,  four  bags 
of  bullets  and  four  bags  of  paint  lie  where  they  had 
been  refused  by  the  savages  he  re-embarked,  reaching 
the  French  Fort  September  25,  where  he  found  M.  de 
Raimond  in  charge. 

After  Gist's  visit,  this  place  soon  became  a  place 
of  great  importance.  On  June  21,  1752,  the  forces 
under  Chas.  Langdale  of  the  French  Fort  Michiliniac- 
kinac,  consisting  of  250  Chippewas  and  Ottawas,  fell 
on  this  place,  killed  fourteen  Indians;  the  place  de- 
stroyed and  the  body  of  Old  Britain  was  boiled  and 
eaten  by  the  attackers. 

This  was  the  real  beginning  of  what  is  called 
Braddock's  War,  and  was  not  to  cease  until  eleven  years 
later  in  1763. 

The  French  now  had  forts  Michilimackinac  on  the 
Straits,  Starved  Rock,  Chartres  on  the  Mississippi, 
Ouatanon  on  the  Wabash,  St.  Joseph  on  Lake  Michigan, 
the  fort  at  junction  of  the  St.  Marys  and  Josephs  Riv- 
ers, Margarets  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hock  Hocking  Riv- 
er, Duquesne  at  Pittsburg,  Du  Troit  at  Detroit,  San- 
dusky at  Sandusky,  a  French  trading  station  on  the 
Cuyahoga,  Presque  Isle  at  Erie,  Le  Bouef  at  Conneaut, 
Fort  Vennango  on  French  Creek,  Marchault  on  the 
Allegheny,  Massac  on  the  Ohio,  and  a  trading  station 
on  the  Huron. 

In  1758  the  French  blew  up  Fort  Duquesne  and 
the  English  built  Fort  Pitt  on  its  ruins.  This  was  to 
change  the  Ohio  into  a  great  National  highway,  and 

34 


THE  FRENCH  IN  OHIO 

people  its  shores  with  a  sturdy  race  of  valiant  English 
souls  who  were  to  make  the  wilderness  to  blossom. 

The  following  is  a  letter  written  in  1501,  by  Pietro 
Pasqualigo,  Venietian  Ambassador  of  the  court  of 
Portugal  to  his  brothers  in  Italy : 

"On  the  eight  day  of  last  month  one  of  two  cara- 
vels which  his  Most  Serene  Majesty  sent  the  past  year 
under  the  command  of  Gasper  Corte  Real,  arrived  here, 
and  reports  of  finding  of  a  country  distant  west  and 
northwest  2,000  miles,  hitherto  quite  unknown.  They 
sailed  so  far  forward  that  they  came  to  a  place  where 
it  was  extremely  cold,  and  they  found  in  the  latitude 
of  50  degrees  the  opening  to  a  very  great  river.  The 
Captain  of  the  lesser  ship  had  not  sufficient  courage  to 
pass  far  beyond  the  mouth,  where  Corte  Real  went  on 
alone,  and  the  other  carvel  awaited  his  return  for  the 
space  of  fifteen  days,  and  then  returned  to  Lisbon.  If 
Corte  Real's  carvel  is  lost  or  if  it  shall  yet  come  safe- 
ly no  one  can  tell,  but  should  I  receive  additional  infor- 
mation it  shall  be  transmitted  to  you." 

Jacques  Cartier  came  to  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1530. 
In  Newfoundland  there  were  certainly  Basque  fisher- 
men before  Cartier. 

The  ignorance  of  America  was  not  only  proverbial 
but  it  was  universal.  Chas.  Dudley  Warner  speaking 
of  its  says:  'Tgnorance  of  America  is  taught  in  Eng- 
lish schools."  In  1756,  Henry  Popple  published  a  "Map 
of  the  British  Empire  in  America,"  in  which  the  Mo- 
nongahela  and  Kanawa  are  unknown,  but  La  Riviere 
Aux  Boeufs  enters  the  Ohio  from  the  south  east,  com- 
ing out  of  a  lake  not  known. 

Mr.  Clayton,  of  Virginia,  in  a  letter  addressed  to 

35 


THE  FRENCH  IN  OHIO 

the  Royal  Society  of  England,  under  date  of  Aug.  17, 
1688,  ^ays: 

*'I  know  Col.  Bird  that  is  mentioned  to  have  been 
about  that  time  as  far  as  Toteras.  He  is  one  of  the 
intellegentest  gentlemen  in  all  Virginia  and  knows 
more  of  Indian  affairs  than  any  man  in  the  country. 
I  discoursed  him  about  the  River  (Ohio)  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountains  said  to  ebb  and  flow,  which  he 


FORT   FILL       NEAFi    BEREA 


A.— Enclosed  space,   a,  a,  a.— Embanliments  and 
ditches.    Scale.  200  feet  to  the  inch. 

assured  me  was  a  mistake  in  them,  for  that  it  must 
run  into  a  Lake  now  called  Petite  (Conneaut)  which 
is  fresh  water  for  since  that  time  a  colony  of  French 
are  coming  down  from  Canadas  and  have  seated  them- 
selves in  the  back  of  Virginia,  where  Fallam  and  the 
rest  supposed  there  might  be  a  bay,  but  is    a    Lake 


36 


THE  FRENCH  IN  OHIO 

which  they  have  given  the  name  of  Lake  Petite,  there 
being  several  large  Lakes  between  that  and  Canadas. 
The  French  possessing  themselves  of  the  lakes  will  no 
doubt  in  a  short  time  be  absolutely  masters  of  the 
Beaver  Trade."  If  the  statement  of  Mr.  Clayton  is 
true,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  it,  then  the  French 
settled  here  and  built  Fort  Presque  Isle  and  Fort  Le 
Bouef  before  1688,  or  sixty-five  years  before  current 
history  states.  But  current  history  received  its  dates 
from  a  renegrade  white  named  Coffin  whom  Col.  John- 
son found  living  among  the  Indians  of  the  Mohawk. 
We  do  know  that  other  statements  made  by  this  rene- 
grade are  untrue,  then  why  not  the  dates.  We  also 
know  that  Fort  Massac  on  the  Ohio,  was  very  old  in 
1758,  and  that  part  of  the  garrison  of  Duquesne  re- 
built it  at  that  time.  Evan's  map  in  1755,  shows  that 
the  Ohio  starts  in  Lake  Petite,  (Conneaut).  It  is  only 
one  of  the  mistakes  of  early  geographiers. 

In  1790  the  Scioto  Land  Company  induced  500 
French  settlers  to  settle  at  Gallipolis.  They  were  ill- 
fitted  for  pioneer  life  and  it  was  a  hopeless  case  from 
its  very  start.  Lonesomeness,  famine  and  disease  did 
its  work  and  many  lost  their  lives,  and  others  moved 
away. 

In  March  1795,  Congress  made  a  'Trench  Grant" 
of  24,000  acres  in  Scioto  County  for  the  benefit  of 
French  families,  who  lost  their  lands  by  invalid  titles 
at  Gallipolis.  In  1798  Congress  made  an  additional 
grant  of  1,200  acres.  But  a  few  families  settled  on  the 
Grant.  They  were  a  worthy,  simple-hearted  people,  and 
those  that  remained  became  thrifty  and  useful  citizens. 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

INTO  THE  OHIO  COUNTRY  1760-1788 

MAJOR  ROGER'S  EXPEDITION. 

After  the  conquest  of  Canada  by  the  EngHsh,  Gen. 
Amherst  sent  Rogers  with  some  60  boats  and  200  men 
up  Lake  Erie.  He  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga river  on  Nov.  7,  1760.  Rowing  up  this  river  sev- 
eral miles  he  pitched  his  camp.  Here  he  was  met  by 
Pontiac,  who  forbade  him  to  go  further.  After  a  par- 
ley of  two  days  he  made  a  friend  of  Pontiac,  who  pro- 
ceeded with  him  to  Fort  DuTroit  (Detroit)  where  he 
pulled  down  the  lillies  of  France  and  ran  up  the  flag  of 
England.  Here  he  remained  until  December,  when 
leaving  a  garrison  he  set  out  for  Sandusky,  leaving  his 
boats  here.  He  set  out  to  return  to  Pennsylvania  by 
land  through  Ohio.  Major  Rogers  and  his  remaining 
men  left  Sandusky,  1760,  and  crossing  the  Huron  river 
and  following  the  Southern  Fort  Pitt  and  Sandusky 
Indian  Trail,  he  passed  through  the  present  counties  of 
Sandusky,  Seneca,  Richland,  Ashland,  Wayne,  Stark 
and  Columbiana,  arriving  at  Fort  Pitt  (Pittsburg)  Jan. 
23,  1761. 

This  is  the  first  known  military  expedition  to  have 
passed  through  the  **Ohio  Country"  as  it  was  then 
called. 

GEN.  AMHERST'S  EXPEDITION 
This  expedition  was  under  the  command  of  Maj. 
Wilkins    and    consisted    of    600    British    regulars.     It 

38 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

started  from  Albany,  New  York,  in  1763  for  the  pur- 
pose of  re-stocking  and  re-inforcing  the  frontier  forts. 
From  Buffalo  they  came  in  boats,  but  when  a  few 
miles  west  of  Rocky  River  were  struck  by  a  violent  lake 
storm  and  driven  on  the  rocky  shores  and  wrecked, 
losing  73  men,  three  officers,  50  barrels  of  provisions, 
all  their  ammunition  and  a  number  of  cannon.  The  re- 
mainder returned  to  Buffalo  by  the  Northern  Indian 
Trail. 

COL.  BRADSTREET'S  EXPEDITION 

This  force,  consisting  of  1200  men,  300  boats, 
supplies  and  ammunition,  came  up  Lake  Erie  and 
reached  Sandusky  in  safety.  Pontiac  with  a  strong- 
force  of  Indians  had  for  several  months  been  besieging 
Detroit,  but  this  expedition  reached  there  safely  and 
relieved  the  garrison.  Gen.  Israel  Putnam,  the  Revo- 
lutionary hero,  was  a  member  of  the  force. 

On  their  return  they  were  struck  by  a  severe 
storm  and  on  attempting  to  enter  the  mouth  of  Rocky 
River  were  dashed  upon  the  shore  and  completely 
wrecked.  They  lost  all  their  boats,  supplies,  guns,  can- 
non and  baggage.  The  loss  in  lives  was  heavy.  Out 
of  1200  men,  but  a  few  hundred  ever  reached  Buffalo. 
Those  who  succeeded  in  saving  their  lives  passed  a 
wretched  night  on  the  shore  and  the  next  morning  took 
up  their  march  to  the  eastward  along  the  Northern 
Indian  Trail.  Some  boats  were  saved,  and  those  pro- 
ceeded on  their  watery  way. 

For  a  century  after,  guns,  swords  and  pistols  were 
found  here.  Here,  too,  was  a  great  mound  of  human 
remains  and  many    trenches.     Many    gold    and    silver 

39 


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Z 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

coins,  silver  spoons,  bayonets,  surgon's  instruments, 
etc.,  were  found,  but  the  treasure  chest  and  six  brass 
cannon  have  never  been  discovered. 

COL.  BOQUET'S  EXPEDITION 

On  Sept.  17,  1764,  Col.  Boquet  with  1500  men  left 
Fort  Pitt  for  the  "Ohio  Country."  He  reached  the 
Tuscarawas,  then  called  the  Upper  or  Little  Muskin- 
gum, Oct.  13,  1764.  This  little  army  crossed  the  Ohio 
at  Beaver,  Pennsylvania,  afterwards  Fort  Mcintosh, 
and  cut  a  wide  roadway  through  the  forest  to  their  des- 
tination.   The  first  ever  cut  in  Ohio. 

Their  journal  says:  Oct.  8,  "The  army  crossed  Lit- 
tle Beaver  Creek,  one  of  its  branches."  This  enters  the 
Ohio  on  the  state  line.  Their  journal  further  states: 
Oct.  13,  "Came  to  the  main  branch  of  the  Muskingum 
(Tuscarawas)  70  yards  wide  with  a  good  ford."  A  river 
at  that  time,  now  but  a  mere  brook. 

They  proceeded  at  once  to  erect  a  temporary  fort. 
Oct.  17th  they  received  a  delegation  of  some  50  chiefs 
and  warriors  and  demanded  of  them  the  return  of  all 
the  white  prisoners  in  their  hands.  On  Oct.  20th  he 
again  received  the  chiefs  of  the  "Ohio  Country"  and 
reiterated  his  demands  and  plainly  stated  that  he  would 
not  leave  their  country  until  every  white  prisoner  in 
their  hands  was  delivered  to  him.  They  agreed  with 
him  that  they  would  meet  him  in  twelve  days  at  the 
junction  of  the  Tuscarawas  and  White  Woman's  River 
(now  the  Walhondling). 

Consequently,  Col.  Boquet  moved  his  army  down 
the  Tuscarawas  to  the  "Forks  of  the  Muskingum,"  now 
Coshocton,  where  he  arrived  Oct.  25.     The  time  had 

41 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

been  short  for  the  Indians  to  collect  their  captives,  so 
a  general  meeting  was  arranged  for  Nov.  9,  when  some 
260  captives  were  delivered,  and  pledges  made  that  100 
more  would  be  delivered  at  Fort  Pitt  in  the  coming 
spring,  the  Indians  giving  him  hostages  for  the  per- 
formance of  their  contract. 

Human  language  is  too  poor  to  portray  the  scenes 
enacted  here.  Here  were  husbands  clasping  their  long 
lost  wives,  fathers  and  mothers  gathering  lost  children 
to  their  hearts,  brothers  and  sisters  meeting  for  the 
first  time  in  years.  There  was  joy  and  rapture,  tears 
and  weeping,  with  many  flying  around  as  if  demented. 
Not  all  had  come  back;  some  had  died  at  the  torture 
stake,  some  had  met  horrible  fates,  some  young  girls 
had  taken  Indian  mates. 

Col.  Boquet's  expedition  had  been  the  most  suc- 
cessful of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  and  for  this  he 
w^as  made  a  Major  General.  On  the  18th  of  November, 
1764,  he  broke  camp  and  after  ten  days  march  arrived 
at  Fort  Pitt  without  losing  a  man,  and  with  206  white 
Indian  prisoners  of  whom  there  were  125  females  and 
children  and  81  males.  Of  these  there  were  67  women 
with  children  from  Pennsylvania  and  58  women  with 
children  from  Virginia,  49  males  from  Pennsylvania 
and  32  from  Virginia. 

This  expedition  was  unique,  it  never  had  its  pro- 
totype in  American  History. 

COL.  MACDONALD'S  EXPEDITION 

In  1774,  Lord  Dunmore,  the  Royal  Governor  of 
Virginia,  and  the  man  who  afterwards  burnt  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  escaping  by  an  English  vessel  in  the  Hampton 

42 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

Roads,  to  his  royal  master  King  George  the  III  of 
England,  commissioned  Col.  Angus  MacDonald  to  raise 
a  force  of  men  and  proceed  against  the  Ohio  Indians. 

This  force  400  strong  rendezvoused  at  Wheeling, 
and  proceeded  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Indian  village 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Wakatomika  Creek.  Six  miles 
above  they  met  the  Indians  in  force  and  defeated  them, 
losing  two  men  killed  and  nine  wounded.  The  two 
Indian  villages,  a  mile  apart,  were  burned  and  their 
corn  fields  destroyed.  This  battle  was  near  the  present 
town  of  Dresden. 

Taking  with  them  three  Indian  Chiefs  as  hostage 
the  expedition  returned  to  Wheeling,  no  permanent 
relief  from  Indian  forray  having  been  accomplished. 

LORD  DUNMORE'S  WAR 

All  summer  and  fall  sounded  the  preparation  for 
war  in  Virginia  against  the  Ohio  Indians. 

Among  the  noted  names  in  this  army  we  find 
those  of  Generals  Isaac  Shelby,  Andrew  Lewis,  Geo. 
Rogers  Clarke,  John  Gibson,  Simon  Kenton,  Daniel 
Morgan,  Col.  James  Wood,  Col.  Chas.  Lewis  and  the 
notorious  Capt.  Michael  Cresap. 

'  The  right  wing  of  the  army  reached  the  Ohio  by 
the  way  of  'Totomac  Gap"  about  October  1st  and  went 
down  the  Ohio  to  the  Hock-Hocking  River,  and  there 
built  Fort  Gower.  This  army  was  under  the  treach- 
erous and  traitorous  command  of  Lord  Dunmore  who 
was  soon  to  be  proven  not  only  a  traitor  but  a  coward. 

The  left  wing  of  the  army  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Andrew  Lewis.  They  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Kanawha  River  about  the  first  of  the 

43 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITONS 

month  where  he  went  into  camp.  In  the  meantime  he 
received  notice  from  Lord  Dunmore  that  he  was  not 
to  form  a  junction  with  the  right  wing  at  the  place 
agreed  upon. 

Lord  Dunmore  waited  at  Fort  Gower  until  he 
heard  the  guns  of  Lewis  and  was  told  by  scouts  that 
his  left  was  entirely  surrounded  and  that  a  massacre 
was  imminent,  w^hen  instead  of  sending  re-inforcements 
he  ordered  his  whole  command  to  re-embark  and  they 
lied  up  the  Hock-Hocking  across  the  present  counties 
of  Athens,  Hocking,  Fairfield  and  Pickaway  and  en- 
camped on  Sappo  Creek,  a  tributary  to  the  Scioto. 
Here  he  intrenched  himself  and  named  his  new  loca- 
tion "Camp  Charlotte". 

On  Oct.-  8th  Gen.  Lewis  had  completed  arrange- 
ments to  march  on  the  morrow  to  form  a  junction  with 
the  right  wing. 

During  the  night  Cornstalk  surrounded  the  camp 
with  a  thousand  warriors  and  with  the  first  break  of 
day  the  solitary  crack  of  a  rifle  broke  the  stillness  of 
peace  and  set  the  camp  in  commotion.  The  forces  w^ere 
equal,  and  all  day  long  raged  the  great  battle.  It  has 
been  characterized  as  "one  of  the  most  sanguinary 
and  best  fought  battles  in  the  annals  of  Indian  war- 
fare in  the  west". 

During  the  battle  Cornstalk  moved  among  his 
men  crying  "Be  strong !  Be  strong  I"  During  the  night 
he  withdrevv'  his  men,  and  in  the  morning  General 
Lewis  received  a  reinforcement  of  300  borderers.  The 
losses  on  the  side  of  Lewis  was  75  officers  and  men 
killed  and  140  wounded. 

On  the  11th  he  began  his  march  to  the  Indian 

44 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

towns  of  the  Scioto.  An  80  mile  march  brought  him 
to  within  four  miles  of  Camp  Charlotte,  when  he 
camped  on  Congo  Creek  and  called  it  Camp  Lewis. 

Lord  Dunmore  affected  a  treaty  here  with  the 
chiefs  on  the  Scioto  but  it  was  never  regarded  by  either 
side.  The  39  years  war  had  begun,  and  the  forest  land 
was  to  run  red  with  blood. 

After  leaving  a  small  force  of  men  at  the  mouth 
of  Kanawha,  another  at  Fort  Fincastle,  afterwards 
called  Fort  Henry,  now  Wheeling,  also  a  few  at  the 
''Forks  of  the  Ohio"  afterwards  called  Fort  Pitt,  now 
Pittsburg,  he  withdrew  his  forces  to  Virginia  and  soon 
committed  the  dastardly  crime  against  the  common- 
wealth of  which  he  was  governor  and  fled  for  safety 
to  England. 

GEN.  LACHIN  McINTOSH'SlEXPEDITION 

Gen.  Mcintosh,  commander  in  chief  of  the  Western 
Military  Department,  started  out  in  1778  with  an  army 
of  1000  men,  object,  Detroit.  When  he  arrived  at  the 
Tuscarawas  River,  near  Bolivar,  he  got  cold  feet  and 
decided  to  stop  and  build  a  fort  and  then  return  to 
Fort  Pitt,  the  place  from  which  he  started.  This  fort 
he  named  Fort  Laurens. 

It  was  the  first  parapeted  and  stockaded  fort  built 
in  the  state  of  Ohio.  It  was  built  in  the  shape  of  a 
five-pointed  star  and  the  Ohio  Canal  today  runs  over 
its  site.  After  provisioning  it  he  left  a  garrison  of 
150  men  under  the  command  of  Col.  John  Gibson, 
afterwards  Gen.  Gibson,  the  friend  of  Logan,  whose 
cousin  he  adopted. 

Gen.  Mcintosh  returned  to  Fort  Pitt  and  disaster 

45 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

soon  followed.  They  were  unable  to  do  any  scouting, 
their  horses  were  stolen,  for  Capt.  Pipe  with  800  war- 
riors soon  invested  the  place.  They  could  not  cut  or 
haul  any  wood,  for  on  two  attempts  they  were  am- 
bushed and  shot  down.  The  first  time  they  lost  14 
men,  the  second  time  11  men.  Provisions  grew  short 
but  a  supply  train  was  expected  soon;  it  came,  and 
the  besieged  were  so  elated  that  they  fired  a  general 
salute  which  so  frightened  the  animals  they  ran  away 
and  scattered  the  supplies  all  over  Northern  Ohio, 
the  most  of  which  was  a  total  loss. 

So  disastrous  had  been  the  affairs  at  this  lonely, 
outlying  outpost  that  it  was  abandoned  in  1779.  It 
was  the  only  frontier  fort  in  Ohio;  from  the  lake  on 
the  north,  to  the  river  on  the  south;  from  Pennsyl- 
vania on  the  east,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  west. 

Named  after  the  President  of  the  then  Continental 
Congress,  it  did  not  stand  as  rock,  as  he  did  for  human 
liberty. 

COL.  JOHN  BOWMAN'S  EXPEDITION 

In  July  1779,  Col.  Bowman  with  160  border  Ken- 
tuckians  marched  against  the  Shawnee  Indian  towns 
on  the  Little  Miami  River,  within  the  present  limit 
of  Greene  County. 

The  troops  divided,  a  portion  being  under  the 
command  of  Col.  Benjamin  Logan.  Two  nights  from 
the  present  site  of  Cincinnati  they  struck  and  de- 
stroyed one  of  the  towns,  Chief  Blackfish  was  badly 
wounded  and  nine  of  Col.  Bowman's  men  were  killed. 
but  they  captured  160  horses  and  began  a  running 
retreat  towards  the  Ohio.     All  that  day  the  Indians 

46 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

fought  them,  pursuing  them  to  the  Ohio,  where  they 
crossed  that  river  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Miami, 
and  dispersed  to  their  homes  in  the  blue  grass. 

COL.  GEORGE  RODGERS  CLARK'S  EXPEDITION 

In  the  summer  of  1780,  the  ''Long  Knives  of  Ken- 
tucky" under  the  command  of  Col.  Rogers  Clarke,  or- 
ganized an  army  1000  strong  to  chastise  the  Indians 
on  the  Mad  and  Little  Miami  Rivers. 

This  army  crossed  the  river  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Licking  (Cincinnati)  and  stopping  long  enough  to 
erect  two  block-houses,  pushed  on,  and  on  August  6 
arrived  at  the  Indian  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Little 
Miami,  called  Old  Chillicothe,  which  they  found  in 
ashes;  the  Indians  having  destroyed  it  in  anticipation 
of  the  coming  of  the  ''Long  Knives".  After  cutting 
down  all  the  growing  corn  Rogers  proceeded  to  the 
celebrated  Indian  town  of  Piqua,  the  birthplace  and 
home  of  that  great  chieftain,  Tecumseh,  the  terror  of 
the  west.  This  town  was  on  Mad  river,  but  five  miles 
west  of  the  present  city  of  Springfield.  Here  they 
were  ambucaded  by  the  Indians  hiding  in  the  long  grass 
of  the  lowlands.  A  terrible  battle  followed.  Rogers' 
loss  was  twenty  men  killed  and  many  wounded.  The 
Indians  fled  and  their  town  of  Piqua  was  burned  to 
the  ground,  all  the  growing  crops  destroyed  including 
500  acres  of  corn.  This  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the 
Indians,  many  of  whom  nearly  starved  during  the  en- 
suing winter. 

Among  those  opposing  Rogers  was  Simon  Girty, 
the  renegrade,  from  the  Cuyahoga  Valley.  Girty  com- 
manded several  hundred  Mingoes. 

47 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

Rogers'  army  returned  to  the  block-houses  on  the 
site  of  Cincinnati  and  there  disbanded,  the  Kentucky 
borderers  returning  to  their  homes  well  satisfied  with 
the  lesson  they  had  given  the  Ohio  Indians. 

GEN.  DANL.  BROADHEAD'S  EXPEDITION 

For  cold  blooded  brutality  this  expedition  out- 
nerved  even  the  bloody  Indian.  It  is  one  of  the  blots 
on  Ohio's  fair  fame.  It  was  composed  of  Pennsylvania 
Indian  hunters,  flat  boatmen  and  hangers-on  of  the 
river  settlements.  It  was  an  organized  force  of  some 
300  men  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Daniel  Broad- 
head,  which  left  Wheeling  in  April  of  1781,  and 
marched  on  to  the  ''Forks  of  the  Muskingum",  (Co- 
shocton). 

It  surrounded  the  Indian  town  at  that  place, 
burned  it,  capturing  its  inhabitants.  With  Gen.  Broad- 
head  was  Lewis  Wetzel,  a  noted  chief,  a  hostage  and  a 
prisoner.  He  was  contrary  to  all  rules  of  warfare, 
brutally  murdered  and  scalped  by  these  men  who 
claimed  to  be  civilized. 

Not  satisfied  with  this,  they  selected  sixteen  of 
the  most  promising  warriors  of  the  village  and  with 
spears  and  tomahawks  murdered  them  in  cold  blood, 
and  afterwards  scalped  them.  All  manner  of  brutal 
outrages  were  practiced  against  these  people,  not  only 
here,  but  on  their  way  home.  Several  other  small  vil- 
lages were  also  captured  and  the  usual  outrages  fol- 
lowed. 

The  men  crazed  with  blood  and  success  were  bound 
to  march  up  the  Tuscarawas  and  murder  the  peaceful 
Moravians  in  their  quiet  villages  on  that  stream  where 

48 


I 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

they  followed  agriculture  only — loving  God,  and  prac- 
ticing the  precepts  of  early  Christians. 

Only  the  second  in  command,  Col.  Shepard,  pre- 
vented this.  He  stood  like  a  stone  wall  for  the  right, 
and  he  prevailed,  all  honor  to  his  name. 

COL.  ARCHIBALD  LOCHRY'S  EXPEDITION 

This  unfortunate  expedition  probably  owed  its 
misfortunes  mostly  to  Capt.  Pipe. 

Gen.  Geo.  Rogers  Clarke  had  requested  Col.  Lochry 
to  join  him  with  Pennsylvania  volunteers  at  the  "falls 
of  the  Ohio"  for  a  second  invasion  of  the  "Ohio  Coun- 
try". With  106  men  he  arrived  at  Fort  Henry  (Wheel- 
ing) July  25,  1781.  Here  he  swung  down  the  river  to 
a  few  miles  below  the  Big  Miami,  where  they  concluded 
to  make  camp.  Hardly  had  they  landed  when  from  a 
high  bluff  came  a  sharp  volley  of  musketry.  These 
men  taken  by  surprise,  and  with  no  weapons  in  their 
hands,  paid  the  price  of  carelessness  in  war.  The 
ground  was  soon  covered  with  dead  and  dying  men. 
Col.  Lochry  fell  dead  and  with  him  41  of  his  men ;  the 
remainder,  many  of  w^hom  were  wounded,  were  sur- 
rounded and  made  prisoners.  But  this  did  not  stop  the 
carnage,  some  of  the  living  prisoners  were  killed  and 
scalped  to  satisfy  the  blood  lust  of  the  savages.  The 
remainder  of  the  men  who  were  not  killed  and  scalped 
were  rushed  to  Indian  fastnesses  and  none  lived  to  re- 
turn to  their  homes  until  after  the  peace  of  1783. 

This  massacre  which  occured  August  25,  1781,  was 
in  retaliation  of  Gen.  Broadhead's  unheard  of  outrages 
on  the  Muskingum  in  April,  some  four  months  previous. 

49 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

COL.  WILLIAMSON'S  EXPEDITION 

A  murdered  woman  and  her  infant  was  the  cause 
of  this  expedition. 

An  Indian  raid  on  the  border  settlements  of  Penn- 
sylvania had  resulted  in  the  capture  and  the  carrying 
off  by  the  savages  of  John  Carpenter  and  a  Mrs.  Wal- 
lace and  her  three  children.  Later  the  woman  and  her 
infant  were  found  dead  on  the  trail.  This  happened 
in  February  and  early  in  March  1782,  Col.  Williamson 
had  organized  a  band  of  100  men.  Leaving  Stuben- 
ville  they  came  direct  to  the  Moravian  towns  on  the 
Tuscarawas.  The  previous  fall  this  peaceful  people 
had  been  removed  from  their  homes  to  the  Sandusky 
Plains  by  the  British  authorities  on  the  alleged  reason 
THAT  THEY  WERE  FRIENDLY  TO  AMERICANS. 

They  had  returned  to  their  former  homes  for  the 
purpose  of  gathering  their  corn  which  they  had  been 
compelled  by  their  British  masters  to  leave  behind. 
Williamson  found  these  Christian  Indians  busily  at 
work  in  their  cornfields.  Telling  the  Indians  that  they 
had  come  to  take  them  to  Fort  Pitt  where  they  would 
be  well  cared  for  they  induced  them  to  enter  two  houses 
the  males  in  one,  and  the  women  and  children  in  an- 
other. 

Williamson  put  it  to  a  vote  as  to  whether  they 
should  take  them  to  Fort  Pitt  or  kill  them.  All  but  18 
out  of  100  voted  TO  KILL  THEM.  In  these  houses  all 
night  long  rang  the  hymns,  prayers  and  supplications 
of  these  Christian  Indians  crying  to  God  their  helper. 

In  the  morning  these  white  men  entered  the  cabins 
and  by  mallet,  gun,  spear  and  knife  killed  all,  men, 
women  and  children,  to  the  number  of  96.     One  man 

50 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

with  a  mallet  killed  14,  and  then  handed  it  to  another 
saying :  "Go  on  the  same  way ;  my  arm  aches". 

These  men,  women  and  children  were  murdered 
in  cold  blood.  It  is  the  foulest  blot  on  Ohio's  fair  his- 
tory and  as  long  as  the  state  stands  the  name  of 
Gnadenhutten  will  be  remembered. 

COL.  WILLIAM  CRAWFORD'S  EXPEDITION 

Col.  Crawford  was  a  great  man  in  his  day.  He 
was  the  companion  and  intimate  friend  of  Washing- 
ton, they  were  both  surveyors,  both  born  in  the  same 
state,  both  officers  in  Braddock's  and  Forbe's  army. 
Fie  was  a  captain  in  Lord  Dunmore's  War.  He  also 
participated  in  the  erection  of  Fort  Mcintosh  and  Fort 
Laurens,  and  himself  built  Fort  Crawford,  sixteen  miles 
below  Pittsburg.  He  raised  a  regiment  during  the 
Revolutionary  war  and  as  its  colonel  he  was  with 
Washington  on  Long  Island,  at  Trenton  and  Princeton, 
was  Washington's  Land  Agent  on  the  Ohio,  and  was 
frequently  visited  by  him  in  his  humble  log  cabin 
home. 

By  a  majority  of  five  votes  he  was  elected  over 
Col.  Williamson  as  the  commander  of  the  expedition 
which  bears  his  name.  Most  all  of  Williamson's  men 
re-enlisted  and  he  was  chosen  second  in  command. 

The  expedition  rendezvoused  at  Mingo  Bottom, 
three  miles  below  Steubenbenville,  on  May  25,  1782, 
and  followed  ''Williamson's  Trail"  to  Gnadenhutten, 
from  thence  direct  to  the  Sandusky  Plains.  From  the 
time  they  left  Mingo  Bottom  the  eyes  of  Capt.  Pipe's 
scouts  never  left  them  until  they  reached  the  Tuscara- 
was River  towns.     From    here    the    swiftest    runners 

51 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

brought  the  news  to  Pipe  and  he  was  ready  for  them, 
for  he  who  had  always  hated  the  Moravians  ''because 
they  would  not  fight,"  had  now  constituted  himself  as 
their  avenger.  Three  months  had  scarcely  elapsed  since 
the  terrible,  unheard  of  murder  of  Christian  Indians  by 
these  same  men  in  the  three  Tuscarawas  River  towns. 

The  Sandusky  Plains  reached,  they  could  find  no 
Indians.  They  encamped  for  the  night  and  comenced 
their  march  the  next  morning  and  until  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  when  the  advance  guard  was  attacked 
and  driven  in. 

This  was  on  June  7  and  the  battle  of  Sandusky  was 
on.  The  plains  were  covered  with  a  coarse,  high  grass 
in  which  the  Indians  were  hidden.  Two  pieces  of  woods 
were  fought  over  but  remained  in  possession  of  the 
whites.  The  battle  continued  until  darkness  had  fallen 
when  both  armies  kindled  large  fires  along  their  front 
and  slept  on  their  arms. 

The  next  morning  the  battle  was  not  renewed,  and 
Craw^ford  and  his  oflficers  concluded  to  retreat  during 
the  hours  of  coming  darkness.  Just  before  sunset  the 
Indians  renew^ed  the  battle  with  great  fury  on  the 
south,  east  and  west  sides.  Crawford  formed  his  com- 
mand to  the  north  about  a  mile,  then  swinging  around 
in  a  circle,  regained  their  old  trail.  They  continued 
their  retreat  all  the  next  day,  being  annoyed  by  distant 
sniping  of  the  red  men.  About  300  men  w^ere  with  the 
main  body.  About  180  had  broken  up  into  small  parties 
thinking  it  a  better  chance  to  escape;  the  majority  of 
whom  were  killed  or  captured. 

52 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

Col.  Crawford,  missing  his  son,  son-in-law  and  two 
nephews,  waited  and  watched  for  them  until  the  main 
body  had  gone  by.  Unable  to  catch  up  with  them,  he 
fell  in  company  with  Dr.  Knight  and  two  others.  They 
traveled  all  night,  first  north  and  then  east.  On  the 
next  day  they  fell  in  with  Capt.  John  Biggs,  Lt.  Ashley 
and  two  others.  They  encamped  together  that  night. 
On  the  next  day's  march  they  were  attacked.  Biggs 
and  Ashley  were  killed,  Crawford  and  Knight  were 
taken  prisoners  and  the  other  four  escaped. 

Preparations  for  torture  were  immediately  begun. 
Pipe  painted  Crawford  black  and  led  him  to  the  stake. 
Crawford  offered  Pipe  untold  wealth  to  release  him,  but 
Pipe  would  not  forego  his  vengeance.  The  wealth  of 
the  Indies  would  not  tempt  him,  the  Moravians  must  be 
avenged.  Crawford's  son  and  son-in-law  were  also  ex- 
ecuted. Crawford  was  burned  by  a  slow  fire  at  a  Dela- 
ware village  on  Tyemochte  Creek. 

Williamson  was  the  man  Pipe  was  after,  but  Wil- 
liamson had  resolved  to  save  his  own  bacon.  Early  in 
the  retreat  he  abandoned  his  command  and  with  forty 
men  pushed  through  the  Indian  line  and  escaped,  leav- 
ing his  comrades  to  imprisonment,  death  and  the  tor- 
ture stake. 

Dr.  Knight,  condemned  to  the  torture  stake,  was 
taken  to  an  Indian  town  some  forty  miles  distant,  but 
escaped. 

No  command  of  so  large  a  number  had  ever  made 
such  a  futile  and  disastrous  campaign  in  the  Ohio 
Country, 

53 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

GEN.  GEORGE  RODGERS  CLARK'S  SECOND 

EXPEDITION 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks  in  Kentucky 
the  borderers  became  desperate  on  account  of  the  many 
successful  incursions  of  the  Ohio  Indians  and  the  sound 
of  gathering  troops  once  more  resounded  throughout 
the  land. 

In  the  fall  of  1782,  Gen.  Clark  with  1,000  gallant 
Kentuckians  again  crossed  the  Ohio  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Licking  (Cincinnati)  and  marched  to  near  the  head 
waters  of  the  Miami  River  and  there  destroyed  some 
Shawanese  towns  and  fields  within  Miami  County.  One 
division  of  this  army  was  under  Col.  Logan  and  the 
other  was  under  Col.  Floyd. 

They  then  marched  on  and  destroyed  *'Loramie's 
Store"  on  the  mouth  of  Loramie  Creek,  within  the  pres- 
ent Shelby  County. 

Ten  Indians  were  killed  and  a  large  numbers  of 
prisoners  taken.  They  then  returned  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Licking  and  disbanded. 

COL.  LOGAN'S  EXPEDITION 
In  1786  Col.  Benjamin  Logan  with  400  men,  cross- 
ed the  Ohio  River  at  Limestone,  and  made  one  of  the 
most  successful  expeditions  ever    made    in    the    Ohio 
Country. 

These  were  the  "Long  Knives"  of  Kentucky  and 
were  as  hostile  as  Crawford's  men,  b'-it  had  not  former 
crimes  against  humanity  to  answer  for,  hence  their  suc- 
cess instead  of  failure. 

The  expedition  was  aimed  against  the  Indian 
Mach-a-cheek  towns  on  the  Mad  River. 

54 


PRE-TERRITORIAL  MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 


I 


The  result  of  this  campaign  was  the  destruction  of 
eight  Indian  towns  within  the  hmits  of  Logan  County. 
All  their  corn  fields  were  also  destroyed.  One  prom- 
inent chief  and  20  warriors  were  killed  and  75  taken 
prisoners. 

Col.  Dan.  Boone,  Gen.  Simon  Kenton  and  Col.  Trot-  I 

ter  were  officers  in  this  expedition. 

COL.  EDWARD'S  EXPEDITION 

This  expedition  in  1787,  to  the  Big  Miami  River, 
was  barren  in  its  results,  and  requires  no  mention.    Col.  1 

Edwards'  second  expedition  to  Upper  Sandusky  was 
more  fruitful  of  results.  This  was,  however,  in  1812 
and  after  Ohio  had  become  a  state. 

COL.  TODD'S  EXPEDITION 

Col.  Todd's  expedition  to  the  Scioto  Valley,  in  1788, 
before  the  organization  of  the  North-western  Territory, 
was  also  barren  of  results  and  requires  only  a  mere 
mention  as  part  of  our  history. 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

''Blest  land  of  the  free! 

Thrice  hallowed  by  song, 
Where  the  holiest  of  memories 

Pilgrim-like  throng; 
In  the  shade  of  the  forests, 

By  the  shores  of  thy  lakes. 
On  the  hills  of  thy  beauty. 

Made  holy  and  great 
By   footsteps  of  angels —  ^ 

The  Angels  of  God." 

'The  Western  Reserve"  is  situated  in  the  north- 
east quarter  of  the  State,  bounded  on  the  north  by  Lake 
Erie,  on  the  east  by  Pennsylvania,  on  the  south  by  the 
parallel  of  the  forty-first  degree  of  north  latitude,  and 
on  the  west  by  the  counties  of  Sandusky  and  Seneca. 
Its  length  east  and  west  is  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles,  by  an  average  width  of  fifty  miles  from  north  to 
south ;  comprising  an  area  of  three  milhon,  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  acres.  It  is  surveyed  into  townships  of 
five  miles  square. 

A  half  million  acres  was  stricken  off  the  west  part. 
Out  of  and  comprising  this  tract,  were  formed  the  coun- 
ties of  Erie  and  Huron.  This  tract  so  stricken  off  was 
called  "The  Fire  Lands  of  Connecticut."  This  was  do- 
nated by  the  State  of  Connecticut,  to  certain  sufferers 
by  fire  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  These  sufferers 
by  fire  were  the  inhabitants  of  New  London,  Connecti- 
cut, in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  Benedict  Arnold,  the 
arch  traitor,  entered  their  harbor  and  burned  the  city. 

56 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

The  balance  of  the  Land  in  the  Western  Reserve 
was  sold  by  Connecticut  to  Phelps  and  Gorham,  of  that 
state,  for  the  sum  of  One  Hundred  Thousand  Pounds, 
New  England  currency.  This  sum  of  money  became 
the  basis  of  Connecticut's  common  school  fund,  now 
aggregating  upwards  of  two  million  dollars. 


h  - 


FORT  WHITTLESEY 

The  states  of  Virginia,  New  York,  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut,  each  claimed  the  territory  by  virtue 
of  royal  patents  from  the  King  of  England.  At  that 
early  period,  the  geographical  knowledge  Europeans 
had  of  America    was    very    limited.     Patents  granted 


57 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

often  covered  the  same  territory,  or  overlapped  on  each 
other,  creating  much  confusion  and  many  disputes. 
Virginia  laid  claim  to  this  territory,  asserted  ownership 
and  exercised  nominal  jurisdiction  by  establishing  the 
County  of  Botecourt  in  1769,  whose  western  boundary 
was  the  Mississippi. 

That  state's  claim  was  founded  on  royal  grants 
issued  by  James  the  First,  bearing  dates  April  10,  1606 ; 
May  23,  1609 ;  and  March  12,  1611.  New  York  claimed 
the  territory  by  virtue  of  Royal  Charters  issued  by 
Charles  the  Second,  and  bearing  date  Mar.  2,  1664,  and 
included  territory  that  had  been  previously  granted 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  hence  the  conflict  of 
claims  between  those  States,  their  several  charters  cov- 
ering the  same  soil  of  Ohio.  The  Massachusetts  title 
was  granted  in  less  than  twenty  years  after  the  arrival 
of  the  Mayflower. 

The  title  of  Connecticut  was  based  on  a  Roval 
Charter  to  the  Colony  issued  by  King  Charles  the  Sec- 
ond, Mar.  19,  1631.  For  some  years  after  the  United 
States  had  become  an  independent  power  these  inter- 
fering claims  caused  much  confusion  betw^een  the  states 
interested. 

On  March  1,  1784,  the  state  of  Virginia,  by  her  rep- 
resentatives, duly  appointed  by  her  Legislature,  as  a 
committee,  consisting  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Mon- 
roe, Samuel  Hardy  and  Arthur  Lee,  waved  all  title  and 
ownership  to  the  territory,  excepting  a  tract  of  land 
called  the  ''Virginia  Military  District,"  and  surrendered 
all  authority  over  "the  territory  of  said  State  lying  and 
being  to  the  north-west  of  the  river  Ohio."  New  York's 
deed  of  cession  was  favorably  reported  to  the  Congress 

58 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 


of  the  United  States  on  May  1,  1782.  The  states  of 
Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  not  to  be  outdone  by 
their  sister  states  in  patriotism  and  generosity,  soon 
followed  by  acts  of  relinquishment  of  title  and  deeds  of 
cession  to  the  United  States. 

Connecticut,  in  September,  1786,  ceded  all  her  claim 
to  soil  and  jurisdiction  thereof  west  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  in  the  territory,  north  west  of  the  River  Ohio. 
By  consent  of  Congress  Connecticut  retained  her  own- 
ership in  the  soil  and  jurisdictional  rights  over  the  Re- 
serve. These  rights  upon  sale  passed  to  Phelps  &  Gor- 
ham,  who  at  once  made  arrangements  to  have  the  land 
appraised,  surveyed  and  sold,  the  purchasing  parties 
being  largely  in  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut and  New^  York,  and  was  known  thereafter  as  the 
Connecticut  Land  Co.  New  England  people,  the  land  of 
the  Pilgrim  and  Puritan,  became  the  chief  purchasers 
of  the  virgin  soil,  who  transferred  their  mode  of  society, 
industry,  enterprise  and  habits  of  thought  to  ''New 
Connecticut."  The  descendants  of  these  people  have  no 
equal  in  intelligence,  integrity  and  good  order  general- 
ly. After  the  title  was  transferred  to  the  Connecticut 
Land  Company,  the  subscriptions  to  the  purchase 
ranged  from  $1,683  by  Sylvanus  Griswold,  to  $168,185 
by  Oliver  Phelps.  Each  dollar  subscribed  to  this  fund 
entitled  the  subscriber  to  one-twelve-hundred-thou- 
sandth part  in  common  and  undivided,  of  the  land  pur- 
chased. The  amount  of  shares  was  fixed  at  400,  at 
$3,000  per  share.  Certificates  were  issued  to  each  own- 
er, showing  him  to  be  the  owner  of  such  proportion  of 
the  entire  land,  as  the  amount  he  paid,  bore  to  the  pur- 
chase   price    of    the    whole.     Moses  Cleveland    and    a 

59 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 


■^^/.l 


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FORT  WEYMOUTH 

party  of  51  surveyors  and  assistants  landed  in  Ohio, 
after  holding  a  treaty  with  the  Indians  at  Buffalo. 
The  surveys  of  the  Reserve  Lands  were  made  in  the 
years  of  1796  and  1797,  or  that  portion  of  it  lying  east 
of  the  Cuyahoga  River.  The  draft  of  the  lands  east  of 
this  river  took  place  prior  to  1800.  In  this  draft  it  re- 
quired an  ownership  of  $12,903.23  of  the  original  pur- 
chase money  to  entitle  an  owner  to  a  Township. 


60 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 


In  1800,  through  petition,  Congress  accepted  the 
Western  Reserve  as  part  of  the  United  States  and  con- 
signed it  for  jurisdiction  purposes  to  the  Northwestern 
Territory,  then  in  its  second  grade.  However,  Connec- 
ticut did  not  cede  her  jurisdictional  claim  to  the  West- 
ern Reserve  to  the  United  States  until  May  30,  1801. 
The  land  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  became  by  treaty,  in 
1805,  a  part  of  the  United  States.  These  lands  were 
surveyed  in  1806-'07  by  Abram  Tappan,  for  the  Con- 
necticut Land  Company,  and  Seth  Pease  for  the  Govern- 
ment. The  draft  of  the  land  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  took 
place  April  4,  1807.  In  this  draft  it  required  ownership 
of  $26,087  in  the  original  purchase  money  to  entitle  an 
owner  to  a  Township.  The  same  mode  and  plan  was 
followed  in  each  draft.  The  Townships  were  numbered, 
and  the  numbers  on  separate  slips  of  paper  placed  in  a 
box.  The  names  of  the  subscribers  who  were  the  own- 
ers of  sufficient  amount  of  purchase  money  to  entitle 
them  to  a  township,  were  arranged  in  alphabetical  or- 
der and  when  it  was  necessary  for  several  persons  to 
combine  because  of  not  owning  severally,  a  sufficient 
amount  of  the  purchase  money,  or  a  number  of  shares, 
to  entitle  them  to  a  township,  the  name  of  the  person  of 
the  company  that  stood  alphabetically  first,  was  used  to 
represent  them  in  the  draft,  and  in  case  the  small  own- 
ers w^ere  unable  from  disagreement  among  themselves, 
to  unite,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  select  and  class 
the  proprietors,  and  those  selected  were  required  to  as- 
sociate themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of  the 
draft.  The  township  or  parcel  of  land  corresponding  to 
the  first  number  drawn  from  the  box  belonged  to  the 
person  whose  name  stood  first  upon  the  list,  or  to  the 

61 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

persons  whom  he  represented.  This  was  the  method 
adopted  to  sever  the  ownership  in  common,  and  to  se- 
cure to  each  individual  or  company  of  individuals,  their 
interest  in  severalty.  Soon  after  the  conveyance,  the 
land  company,  to  avoid  complications  arising  from  the 
death  of  its  members  and  to  facilitate  the  transmission 
of  titles,  conveyed  the  entire  purchase  in  trust,  to  John 
Morgan,  John  Cadwell  and  Jonathan  Brice. 

After  the  surveys  the  owners  of  lands  took  posses- 
sion or  placed  them  in  the  market.  Settlement  com- 
menced, not  as  in  other  sections,  by  eating  in  on  one  side 
and  gradually  extending  to  the  interior,  but  it  com- 
menced in  nearly  every  township  at  once,  or  at  least 
within  a  few  years.  The  change  was  wonderful,  the 
Reserve  was  filled  with  the  crash  of  falling  trees,  log- 
ging fires  burned  night  and  day;  ringing  ax-strokes 
sharp,  clear-voiced,  could  be  heard  in  every  direction, 
like  funeral  bells  tolling  the  passing  of  the  forest ;  like 
unto  the  passing  of  human  souls  in  troublous  times. 
The  openings  in  the  forest  widened,  and  grew  yet  more 
wide;  the  patches  grew  to  be  fields,  the  fields,  farms. 
Then  came  logging  and  brush-burning,  and  later  the 
pulling  of  stumps,  the  picking  of  stones,  fence  building, 
and  road  and  bridge  building.  Some  forty  years  of  this 
work,  then  the  log  cabin  gave  place  to  the  comfortable 
frame  house,  the  patches  to  extended,  well-fenced  fields. 
The  landscape  had  changed ;  had  been  changing  for 
forty  years;  was  to  continue  to  change  for  the  next 
twenty. 

Then  came  slavery  troubles ;  the  underground  rail- 
road ;  the  firing  on  the  old  flag ;  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War,  the  shrill  screams  of  the  fife,  the  rattle  of 

62 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

drums,  the  going  forth  of  father  and  brother  and  son 
to  fight  for  home  and  God  and  Country. 

And  looking  backward,  what  have  we  accomplish- 
ed? A  record  grand!  Glorious!  A  record  never  ex- 
ceeded. 

Ohio  in  1810,  with  only  10,000  votes  placed  in  the 

fields  during  the  war  of  1812,  more  than  25,000  citizen 
soldiers. 

At  the  first  call  for  troops  in  1861,  she  placed  fifty 
per  cent  more  than  she  was  entitled  to.  At  the  end  of 
the  war  she  had  a  credit  of  41,000  more  than  her  quota. 
As  a  state,  but  little  better  than  fifty  years  old,  she 
placed  in  the  field,  346,326  men  in  regiments,  besides 
many  more  not  credited.  Ohio  sent  an  army  half 
again  larger  than  the  greatest  army  Great  Britain  ever 
placed  in  the  field.  Ohio's  dead  alone  amounted  to 
4,000  more  than  was  lost  on  both  sides  during  the  Rev- 
olutionary War.  Ohio  paid  in  local  bounties  to  her  citi- 
zen soldiery  to  the  amount  of  $23,500,000.  Northern 
Ohio,  a  little  strip  across  the  state  only  one  county  wide 
in  one  place ;  less  than  one  fourth  of  the  state,  sent  60 
full  regiments  of  Infantry,  5  of  Cavalry,  besides  Mc- 
Laughlin's squadron,  10  batteries  of  Artillery,  besides 
sharp  shooting  companies.  Northern  Ohio  furnished 
one  thirtieth  of  the  entire  Union  force  in  field  from 
1861  to  1865. 

The  Western  Reserve  as  a  geographical  division 
is  but  one  seventh  of  the  state  in  which  we  reside,  yet 
we  have  struck  great  blows  for  the  Union,  for  human- 
ity, for  liberty  and  common  weal.  Ohio's  two  war  Gov- 
ernors, David  Todd  and  John  Brough,  were  residents 
of  the  Western  Reserve,  and  when  there  was  doubt  of 

63 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

Kentucky  being  able  to  fill  its  quota,  Ohio's  Governor 
telegraphed  Abraham  Lincoln — 

''If  Kentucky  refuses  to   fill  her  quota, 
we  will  fill  it  for  her." 

The  Western  Reserve  contains  about  175,000  acres 
more  land  than  her  mother  state  of  Connecticut.     Her 


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f'.  ■     ,-^' 

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y 

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FORT  CONNEAUT 


population  exceeds  that  of  Maine,  West  Virginia  and 
Connecticut.  Has  a  greater  population  than  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont  combined,  or  nearly  as  much 
as  the  joint  population  of  Delaware,  Rhode  Island  and 
Vermont,  and  aggregating  four  times  as  much  as  Dela- 


64 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

ware  alone.  It  has  always  carried  a  prepondering  in- 
fluence in  State  and  National  affairs.  It  has  furnished 
many  times  its  share  in  Generals,  Governors,  Supreme 
Judges,  Statesmen,  Presidents  and  learned  men  in 
every  rank  and  walk  of  life.  Its  blood  is  made  up  of 
the  commingled  strains  of  the  Pilgrim,  the  Puritan, 
the  Hollander  and  the  Virginian.  All  that  was  pure, 
that  was  noble,  that  was  of  humanity  and  of  God,  we 
have  inherited  from  them,  the  first  state  to  be  settled 
by  representative  Americans,  children  of  the  old  col- 
onies ;  of  Revolutionary  sires — a  chosen  people — chil- 
dren of  destiny.  God-risen  we  have  a  mission  to  per- 
form and  when  we  forget  it  and  all  that  has  made  us 
great  we  shall  sign  our  death  warrant  and  seal  the 
doom  of  our  children. 

The  importance  of  the  Western  Reserve  as  the  last 
stand  of  Puritanism  cannot  well  be  overlooked  by  men 
of  letters  and  political  economy. 

The  Western  Reserve  has  a  character  and  an 
individuality  of  its  own  that  is  not  found  in  any 
other  section  of  our  country.  An  individuality  that 
in  time  of  National  need  was  to  furnish  the  great 
men,  the  courage,  the  plans  and  the  conscience  that 
was  to  save  the  Nation  in  its  hour  of  most  deadly  peril 
and  to  bear  aloft  to  Victory  the  hands  of  our  beloved 
Lincoln.     It  is  really  a  state  within  a  state. 

Alfred  Mathews  says — 'The  settlement  was  huge- 
ly significant  in  several  ways,  but  none  more  so  than 
in  the  fact  that  the  pioneers  of  that  vast  army  of  occu- 
pation planted  in  the  New  Connecticut  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  the  last  organized  and  distinct  colony  of  Pur- 

65 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

itanism,  which,  as  such,  made  a  deep  and  historic  im- 
pression upon  the  conscience  of  the  country. 

"It  becomes  thus  apparent  that  in  numbers,  com- 
mercial importance,  geographical  extent — in  all  save 
mere  organization — the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve 
constitutes  the  equivalent  of  a  state ;  while  in  its  unity 
of  purpose  and  power  of  influence  it  has  unquestion- 
abily  exercised  in  the  affairs  of  the  Nation  and  in  the 
broad  interest  of  the  people  a  sway  such  as  few  states, 
large  or  small,  have  equaled. 

"It  is  this  achievement,  in  perpetuation  of  prin- 
ciples and  of  individual  character  as  complete  as  if 
bounded  by  state  lines,  or  lofty  mountains  and  wide 
rivers,  and  in  the  unquestioned  fact  that  more  than 
any  other  similar  body  of  people  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies  it  has  impressed  the  brain  and  conscience  of 
the  people." 

Let  us  give  to  our  children  the  best  we  can,  for  in 
them  lies  the  hope  of  a  nation  truly  and  forever  free. 
There  is  a  time  coming,  how  soon  man  knows  not,  as  it 
all  depends  on  the  actors  themselves,  when  the  Great 
American  Republic  will  have  need  of  all  the  heart  and 
conscience  that  can  be  builded  up  on  the  Reserve  to 
steer  her  safely  through  the  breakers  which  are  loom- 
ing so  far  away  and  so  mistily  ahead.  Every  genera- 
tion has  its  great  questions  to  solve  and  answer  right- 
ly. God  grant  that  they  be  met  and  answered  as  well 
in  the  future  as  in  our  golden  past. 

Judge  Tourgee  has  said:  "Words  may  be  false; 
leaders  may  seek  to  deceive;  but  what  a  people  write 
in  blood  upon  the  page  of  history  is  always  true."  Let 
the  people  write  the  history  of  the  Connecticut  Reserve 

66 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 


SO  that  *'he  who  runs  may  read,"  and  reading,  know 
what  the  last  organized  stand  of  Puritanism  did  for 
the  whole  glorious  American  Republic. 


ORGANIZATION,  EARLY  BOUNDARIES  AND 

CHANGES  OF  THE  COUNTIES  OF  THE 

WESTERN  RESERVE  AND 

FIRELANDS 

To  thoroughly  understand  the  county  boundaries 
of  the  Western  Reserve,  it  will  be  necessary  to  briefly 
review  the  various  changes. 

In  1769,  Virginia,  then  claiming  the  "Ohio 
Country,"  erected  the  county  of  Botetourt,  which  in- 
cluded all  the  land  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
Reserve.  This  remained  so  until  that  state  ceded  her 
right  to  the  Western  Territory  in  1783. 

On  July  26,  1788,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Governor  of 
the  North-western  Territory,  by  proclamation,  estab- 
lished all  the  territory  east  of  the  Scioto  river  into  the 
county  of  Washington. 

July  29,  1797,  the  territorial  county  of  Jefferson 
was  erected ;  this  county  included  within  its  limits  all 
the  land  on  the  Reserve  lying  east  of  the  Tuscarawas 
and  Cuyahoga  rivers  and  the  Portage  path.  The  fol- 
lowing boundaries  were  established  with  the  county 
seat  at  Steubenville : 

"Beginning  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  river,  where 
the  western  boundary  of  Penssylvania  crosses  it;  and 
down  said  river  to  the  southern  boundary  of  the  fourth 
township  in  the  third  range  (of  those  seven  ranges  of 
townships  that  were  surveyed  in  conformity  to  the 
ordinance  of  Congress  of  the  20th  of  May,  1785),  and 

68 


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BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

with  the  said  southern  boundary  west,  to  the  south- 
west corner  of  the  sixth  township  of  the  fifth  range; 
thence  north  along  the  western  boundary  of  the  said 
fifth  range  to  the  termination  thereof ;  thence  due  west 
to  the  Muskingum  river,  and  up  the  Muskingum  and 
Tuscarawas  rivers  to  and  with  the  Portage,  between 
the  latter  and  the  Cuyahoga  river;  thence  down  the 
Cuyahoga  river;  thence  down  the  Cuyahoga  to  Lake 
Erie;  thence  eastward  along  the  shore  of  the  lake  to 
the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  south  with 
the  same  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

By  what  right  the  territory  of  the  northwest  thus 
drawn  and  determined  these  boundaries  has  never  been 
known,  as  at  that  time  that  part  of  the  Reserve  did  not 
belong  to  the  Northwestern  Territory. 

These  three  counties,  Botetourt,  Washington  and 
Jefferson,  only  held  questionable  jurisdiction,  as  the 
State  of  Connecticut  laid  claim  to  its  territory  within 
the  "Ohio  Country,"  known  as  ''I^ew  Connecticut."  In 
1786  that  state  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  her 
claim  to  the  soil  and  jurisdiction  west  and  south  of 
what  is  now  known  as  the  "Western  Reserve,"  and  the 
"Firelands"  of  Connecticut.  Congress  confirmed  that 
state's  title  to  the  above  reservations,  consequently 
neither  Congress  nor  any  power  created  had  any 
authority  to  create  geographical  boundaries,  or  assume 
jurisdictional  powers  within  the  above  named  reserva- 
tions. 

From  1786  to  1801,  the  citizens  of  the  Reserve 
were  a  people  without  a  country.  The  United  States 
did  not  own  the  soil,  nor  have  any  jurisdictional  rights 
over  the  same.     Connecticut,  although  she  still  held 

70 


X 


BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

jurisdiction  over  the  territory,  had  sold  the  soil,  estab- 
lishing with  the  proceeds  thereof  her  school  fund,  but 
she  had  not  provided  this  little  republic  with  either 
laws,  or  courts  or  any  form  of  government.  The  east- 
ern half  was  not  yet  a  part  of  the  Northwestern  Terri- 
tory and  was  not  subject  to  its  laws  and  regulations. 
The  settlers  found  themselves  without  the  support  of 
a  central  government  or  a  high  political  power  on  which 
to  lean  for  support  in  time  of  trouble  or  distress. 

Some  thirty-five  of  the  townships  which  had  been 
surveyed  by  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  in  1796 
and  '97  contained  settlements  in  1800 ;  the  estimated 
population  being  one  thousand  souls.  In  that  year,  a 
petition  was  circulated  and  signed,  praying  Congress 
of  the  United  States  to  accept  this  lonely  orphan,  and 
enroll  it  as  a  part  of  the  United  States  of  America,  at- 
taching it  for  judicial  purposes  to  the  Northwestern 
Territory  which  had  attained  to  its  second  grade  of 
territorial  government  September,  1799,  after  eleven 
years  of  government  in  the  first  grade.  Congress,  in 
December,  1800,  accepted  the  trust,  although  Connecti- 
cut did  not  cede  her  claim  to  the  Western  Reserve  until 
May  30,  1801. 

July  10,  1800,  Trumbull  County  was  erected  from 
part  of  the  territory  embraced  in  the  County  of  Jeffer- 
son. This  new  county  contained  all  the  land  of  the 
Western  Reserve,  with  the  county  seat  at  Warren.  The 
official  boundary  as  established  read  as  follows : 

"Beginning  at  the  completion  of  the  41st  degree 
of  north  latitude,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west 
of  the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  and  running 
from  thence  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  north,  parallel  to  and 

71 


BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west  of  the  said  west 
Kne  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  continue  north  until  it 
comes  to  42  degrees,  2  minutes  latitude;  thence  with  a 
line  to  be  drawn  east  until  it  intersects  the  said  west- 
ern boundary  of  Pennsylvania ;  thence  with  the  said 
western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania  south  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  41st  degree  of  north  latitude;  and  from 
thence  west  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

All  counties  of  the  Western  Reserve  were  a  part  of 
Botetourt  and  Washington  counties ;  Ashtabula,  Trum- 
bull, Mahoning,  Lake,  Geauga,  Portage  and  that  part 
of  Cuyahoga  County  lying  east  of  the  Cuyahoga  River, 
as  well  as  that  part  of  Summit  lying  east  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga, and  Tuscarawas  rivers  and  the  ''Portage  Path" 
was  a  part  of  Jefferson  county.  All  the  counties  in 
the  Reserve  were  formerly  a  part  of  Trumbull  county. 

In  1805  Geauga  county  was  formed  from  Trumbull 
county,  and  included  all  the  land  from  the  Cuyahoga 
River  eastward  to  the  Pennsylvania  line,  and  south- 
ward to  the  south  line  of  townships  numbered  five. 
This  embraced  all  the  territory  now  included  in  Ash- 
tabula, Lake  and  that  portion  of  Cuyahoga  lying  east 
of  the  river  of  that  name,  and  also  a  portion  of  Summit. 
June  7,  1807,  Ashtabula  was  formed  from  Geauga  and 
Trumbull  counties.  On  the  same  date,  June  7,  1807, 
Portage  County  was  formed  from  Trumbull  and  includ- 
ed all  that  part  of  the  Western  Reserve  lying  west  of 
the  fifth  range  of  townships.  The  official  boundaries 
are  given  as  follows: 

"That  all  that  part  of  the  county  of  Trumbull 
which  lies  west  of  the  fifth  range  of  townships  be  erect- 
ed into  a  separate  county  by  the  name  of  Portage.  That 

72 


BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

the  courts  of  said  county  of  Portage  shall  be  holden  at 
the  house  of  Benjamin  Tappan  until  a  permanent  seat 
of  justice  shall  be  established.  That  all  that  part  of 
the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve  that  lies  west  of  the 
Cuyahoga  River  and  south  of  the  townships  numbered 
five,  shall  be  annexed  to  and  become  a  part  of  the  coun- 
ty of  Portage.  Provided,  that  the  money  arising  to  the 
county  from  a  tax  on  land,  within  the  said  district, 
shall  be  appropriated  by  the  commissioners  of  Portage 
county,  and  expended  in  laying  out  and  making  roads 
and  erecting  bridges,  within  the  boundaries  of  said  dis- 
trict west  of  Cuyahoga." 

The  territory 'of  Medina,  the  better  part  of  Sum- 
mit, about  half  of  Lorain  and  a  part  of  Ashland  coun- 
ties became  a  part  of  Portage,  but  the  money  collected 
by  a  tax  on  land  to  be  laid  out  on  making  roads  and 
building  bridges  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  River.  Thus 
did  our  early  legislators  build  for  civilization. 

The  fifth  county  formed,  that  of  Cuyahoga,  was 
organized  in  May,  1810,  and  the  territory  was  taken 
from  Geauga. 

Medina  was  formed  Feb.  18,  1812,  but  was  not 
organized  until  April,  1818.  In  1811,  the  west  line  of 
the  eleventh  range  of  townships  was  designated  as  the 
western  boundary  of  Portage  County.  Medina  was 
taken  from  Portage  and  after  it  was  formed  was  at- 
tached to  that  county  for  judicial  purposes  until  its 
organization  in  1818 ;  but  Portage  continued  its  west- 
ern boundary  until  1827,  when  the  following  boundary 
was  established: 

Beginning  on  the  south  line  of  the  Connecticut 
Western  Reserve,  at  the  point  where  the  Tuscarawas 

73 


BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

River  intersects  the  same;  thence  down  northerly  fol- 
lowing the  middle  of  said  Tuscarawas  river,  to  the 
range  line  between  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  ranges,  as 
run  by  the  Connecticut  Land  Company ;  thence  north 
on  the  course  of  the  range  line  last  foresaid,  to  the 
north  line  of  the  township  numbered  four ;  thence  east 
on  the  north  line  of  number  four,  in  the  eleventh  range, 
to  the  middle  of  the  Cuyahoga  River ;  thence  down  the 
middle  of  said  river  to  the  north  line  of  the  township 
numbered  five  in  said  ranges." 

This  took  a  slice  from  Cuyahoga  and  Geauga,  while 
Medina  included  part  of  Lorain  and  Ashland  Counties. 

Lorain  was  formed  Dec.  26,  1822,  and  was  taken 
from  Medina  and  Huron  Counties. 

Summit  was  organized  Mar.  3,  1840,  and  was  taken 
from  Medina,  Portage  and  Stark  Counties. 

Lake  County  was  formed  Mar.  6,  1840,  and  taken 
from  Geauga  and  Cuyahoga. 

Mahoning  was  organized  in  1846  and  was  taken 
from  Trumbull  and  Columbiana  Counties.  It  was 
named  from  the  Indian  name  of  Ma-hon-ink,  "at  the 
lick"  or  at  the  salt  spring.  Portage  was  named  from 
Portage  Path,  while  Cuyahoga  came  from  the  river  of 
that  name. 

A  small  part  of  Ashland  County  belongs  to  the 
Reserve,  while  a  small  portion  of  Ottawa  belongs  to 
the  Firelands  of  the  Western  Reserve. 

Ashland  County  was  organized  Feb.  26,  1846,  and 
was  taken  from  Richland,  Wayne,  Lorain  and  Huron 
counties. 

74 


BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

Ottawa  County  was  organized  Mar.  6,  1840,  and 
was  taken  from  Sandusky,  Erie  and  Lucas.  The  bal- 
ance of  the  Firelands,  Erie  and  Huron  were  organized 
as  follows:    Huron,  1815;  Erie,  1838. 


I 


I 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

"Our  forest  life  was  rough  and  rude, 

And  dangers  closed  us  'round, 
But  here  amid  the  green  old  trees. 

Freedom  we  sought  and  found. 
0,  free  and  manly  lives  we  led, 

'Mid  verdure  or  'mid  snow, 
In  the  days  when  we  were  pioneers 

A  hundred  years  ago." 

"We  felt  that  )ve  were  fellowmen ; 

We  felt  we  were  a  band. 
Sustained  here  in  the  wilderness 

By  heaven's  upholding  hand. 
And  w^hen  the  solemn  Sabbath  came, 

We  gathered  in  the  wood. 
And  lifted  up  our  hearts  in  prayer 

To  God,  the  only  Good, 
Our  temples  then  were  earth  and  sky ; 

None  other  did  we  know 
In  the  days  when  we  were  pioneers 

A  hundred  years  ago." 

— Wm.  D.  Gallagher. 

The  dwellings  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve outside  of  the  rude  bark  or  brush  shack,  consist- 
ed solely  of  the  log  cabin. 

The  log  cabins  were  generally  12x14,  or  14x16  feet 
in  size,  built  of  logs  a  foot  or  more  in  diameter,  laid  up 
like  the  cobhouse  of  the  children,  except  being  notched 
at  the  corner  so  the  logs  laid  close  together,  the  spaces 
between  the  logs  were  filled  with  wooden  wedges  or 
else  plastered  with  stiff  clay.     The  roof  was  covered 

76 


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PIONEERS 

with  clap-boards,  or  long  shingles,  riven  very  thin,  and 
about  six  feet  long,  held  on  by  weight  poles  placed  on 
each  tier,  a  ridge  pole  in  the  center.  The  floors  were 
made  out  of  puncheons,  split  off  the  logs,  and  roughly 
hew^n  with  a  broadax.  Doors  were  made  of  heavy 
puncheons,  crossed  and  eater-cornered  by  other  strong 
timbers ;  the  hinges  were  wooden  ones  made  heavy  and 
of  tough  material.  The  door  was  secured  by  one  or 
more  heavy  cross  bars.  The  windows  were  made  by 
sawing  out  one  or  more  logs,  making  a  small  hole  which 
was  covered  with  slats  and  oiled  paper  .  Bed-steads 
were  made  from  tough  dog-wood  poles,  with  only  one, 
or  at  the  most,  two  posts ;  the  bottoms  made  from  wov- 
en elm  bark  or  tough  hickory  slats.  Chairs  were  usual- 
ly three  legged,  made  to  fit  the  inequalities  of  the  floor, 
and  were  only  rude  puncheon  benches.  The  cupboard 
w^as  made  by  driving  wooden  pins  in  the  logs  and  lay- 
ing boards  upon  them.  The  table  was  usually  a  rude 
frame  covered  with  puncheons.  If  a  cabin  possessed 
a  loft,  the  floor  was  made  by  loosely  laid  puncheons, 
and  was  reached  by  a  ladder,  sometimes  from  the  out- 
side, sometimes  from  the  inside ;  if  there  was  no  ladder 
wooden  pins  were  driven  in  the  logs  at  one  corner  of 
the  cabin ;  a  sure  if  not  an  easy  way  to  reach  the  loft. 
The  fire-place  occupied  the  greater  part,  if  not  the 
whole  of  one  end  of  the  cabin.  This  was  made  of  rough, 
or  undressed  stone,  laid  up  in  mortar,  but  more  usually 
stiff  clay ;  the  chimney  was  composed  of  the  same  ma- 
terial, or  in  some  instances,  of  sticks  laid  crosswise  and 
well  plastered  with  clay,  both  inside  and  out.  A  lug- 
pole  was  across  the  inside  of  the  chimney,  on  which  to 
hang  the  chain,  or  if  the  chain  was  missing,  a  rough 

78 


PIONEERS 

iron-wood  hook  was  in  the  reach  of  all.  Some  cabins, 
and  later,  all,  were  fitted  with  the  iron  trammel  and 
hooks,  on  which  to  hang  the  iron  kettle  or  mush  pot. 
In  some  families  one  iron  kettle  served  alike  for  brew- 
ing the  mint  tea,  crust,  corn-meal,  or  acorn  coffee  for 
frying  the  meat,  boiling  the  potatoes,  or  even  in  which 
to  bake  the  corn  break  or  Johnny-cake.  The  capacious 
fire-places  would  take  a  log  of  almost  any  thickness 
and  from  six  to  ten  feet  in  length.  The  front  and  back 
logs  were  placed  on  the  andirons ;  the  front  log  always 
being  the  largest  in  diameter,  and  of  some  tough,  slow 
burning  wood.  Between  the  back  and  front  log  was 
heaped  smaller  and  quicker  burning  w^ood.  In  winter 
time,  if  the  room  was  large,  there  was  always  danger 
of  freezing  on  one  side,  while  you  roasted  upon  the 
other.  Over  the  chimney  was  set  a  pair  of  deer-antlers, 
on  which  hung  the  goodman's  rifle,  powder-horn  and 
bullet  pouch.  Sometimes  the  rifle  rested  on  wooden 
pins  driven  in  an  overhead  joist.  From  the  joists  hung 
bunches  of  dried  herbs,  little  bags  of  dried  fruits, 
pumpkin,  sacks  of  nuts,  slabs  of  bacon,  jerked  venison,' 
or  smoked  hams  and  bunches  of  dipped  candles.  Did 
the  reader  ever  dip  candles  ?  Candle  wicking  twice  the 
length  of  the  candle  is  hung  across  a  small  round  stick 
very  close  together.  A  kettle  of  melted  tallow  being 
ready,  these  strings  of  wicking  were  dipped  therein. 
These  strings  dry  almost  immediately  upon  being  tak- 
en out,  leaving  a  thin  coating  of  tallow  around  the 
wicks;  this  process  is  repeated  until  the  candles  are  of 
the  required  thickness.  The  writer  has  dipped  as  many 
as  a  hundred  dozen  of  candles  in  a  single  evening.  The 
spinning  and  carding  wheels,  the  flax  hutchell  and  the 

79 


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PIONEERS 

quilting  frames,  when  not  in  use,  were  found  in  one 
corner  of  the  room. 

The  soap  of  the  pioneer  had  to  be  made  by  himself 
or  family  .  The  wood  ashes  were  leached,  the  lye  ob- 
tained was  boiled  with  refuse  fat  in  large  iron  kettles 
until  the  soap  was  of  the  proper  consistency. 

The  "soap-boilings",  the  ''hog-killings",  the  ''log- 
rollings", the  "wood-choppings"  and  "quiltings"  and  a 
little  later  on,  the  "corn-huskings"  and  "parin'  bees" 
were  red  letter  days  to  the  young  people.  Days  full  of 
excitement,  of  jolity  and  good  fellowship,  of  feasting 
and  merriment.  Among  these  amusements,  consisting 
half  of  hard  work  and  half  of  play,  must  not  be  omitted 
the  cabin-raisings.  Men  and  boys  would  cheerfully 
walk  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  to  attend  a  cabin  rais- 
ing, returning  often  after  night,  through  the  woods 
with  their  lighted  torches  of  pine  knots  or  hickory  bark. 
There  were  no  "masses  or  classes"  in  those  days,  the 
rich  and  poor  dressed  alike,  and  were  on  an  equality. 
The  clothing  of  the  men  consisted  of  the  homespun,  or 
deerskin  hunting  frocks,  and  pants  made  of  buckskin. 
The  women  attired  alike  in  homespun  of  their  own 
manufacture. 

The  early  settlers  of  the  Reserve  were  a  rough, 
hardy  intelligent  set;  they  believed  in  a  God,  in  good 
order  and  education.  They  were  always  ready  to  start 
a  church  or  a  school,  and  to  help  each  other  on  any  and 
every  occasion.  Books  were  scarce,  but  the  Western 
Reserve  boy  did  not  think  himself  a  man  until  he  had 
at  least  mastered  "the  three  R's".  The  early  Reserve 
teacher  was  usually  from  the  best  blood  and  talent  of 
the  New  England  states ;  they  were  far,  very  far  above 

80 


PIONEERS 

the  average  in  ability,  and  many  of  them  rose  to  state 
or  national  renown,  and  in  later  years  we  iind  many  of 
our  wisest  lawyers  and  statesmen  laying  their  heads 
together,  calling  up  old  reminiscences  of  "keeping 
school  and  boardin'  round",  and  talk  of  the  warm  chim- 
ney corners,  of  the  suppers  of  mush  and  milk,  or 
Johnny-cake  and  jerked  venison ;  of  the  settlers  robust, 
rosy  daughter,  toward  whom  they  cast  ''sheep's  eyes", 
of  the  old  fashioned  spelling  school  and  the  walk  home 
with  the  girls;  of  the  country  singing  schools  and  of 
the  jealous  swain  in  the  gay  wamus,  of  the  first  love 
that  only  survived  one  school  term;  of  the  long  win- 
ter's night  in  cabins,  lit  by  only  the  fitful  glare  of  the 
burning  fire;  of  the  nightly  feasts  of  hickory,  hazel, 
butter  and  walnuts,  of  doughnuts  and  cider,  of  fun  and 
frolic,  of  hunting  tales,  and  of  those  more  fierce  and 
pathetic,  the  stories  of  border  Indian  warfare. 

In  some  localities  log  rollings  were  of  common  oc- 
curence, every  settler  having  one  or  more  each  year. 
Settlers  came  for  miles  around.  Oxen  and  axes,  hand- 
spikes and  muscle  were  in  demand.  The  logs  were  cut, 
hauled  and  heaped  into  great  tow^ering  pyramids.  The 
boys  and  girls  piled  the  brush,  started  the  fires,  and 
danced  around  the  burning  piles,  as  much  play  as  work, 
and  as  much  work  as  play,  but  all  with  joyous  hearts 
and  willing  hands. 

Later  on  came  the  stump  pullings  and  the  stone 
picking,  the  burying  of  hardhead  boulders.  If  the 
writer  only  had  a  penny  for  each  backache  caused  by 
this  kind  of  work,  he  would  have  a  great  many  pennies. 

Then  there  were  the  ''wood  choppings"  and  "quilt- 
ing bees",  where  everybody,  old  and  young,  would  go ; 

81 


PIONEERS 

the  men  with  their  axes  and  teams,  the  women  with 
their  ''good  things"  for  dinner  or  supper,  and  also  with 
their  needles  and  large  motherly  hearts.  Some  old 
lady,  or  widow  or  lone  woman  or  superannuated  couple 
would  get  wood  enough  to  last  them  all  winter,  and 
qulits  and  warm  things  enough  to  keep  the  cold  and 
frost  out  of  doors  where  thej^  belonged.  Those  were 
the  good  old  days,  the  days  in  which  people  did  not  live 
for  themselves  alone,  but  for  their  neighbors ;  the  days 
when  people  did  not  preach  ''Love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self" but  they  did  more,  they  practiced  it,  lovingly, 
kindl}^  but  earnestly  and  effectively. 

The  religion  of  the  Reserve  pioneer  was  varied, 
coming  as  they  did  almost  entirely  from  New 
York  and  the  New  England  States,  their  religious  con- 
victions were  inherited  and  ingrained.  The  blood  of 
the  Puritan  and  the  Pilgrim  was  nothing,  if  not  God- 
fearing, and  labor-loving.  Transplanted  to  the  solemn 
silences  of  this  forest  border  land,  all  the  mysticism  in 
their  nature  came  to  the  surface.  If  a  man  or  a  woman 
is  inclined  to  worship  God,  he  or  she  will  do  it  in  a 
heavy  forest  land,  it  is  a  compulsion,  an  absolute  neces- 
sity .  God  in  the  man  cries  aloud  for  utterance  and  will 
not  be  denied.  "These  people  had  all  the  warm^th  and 
fire  in  their  souls  of  which  to  make  active  Christians. 
At  their  camp-meetings  in  the  beautiful  wildwood, 
with  their  frank,  honest,  unstudied  manners,  their 
native  intelligence  and  their  cordial  winsome  ways,  re- 
ligion was  attractive  and  lovely,  and  they  could  not  help 

being  zealous  workers." 

"One  poor  woman  in  giving  her  experience,  years 
afterward,  unconsciously  drew  an  exquisite  picture  for 

82 


PIONEERS 

the  pencil  of  the  beauty-loving  artist.  She  said  she 
was  working  near  the  roadside,  poorly  clad,  when  the 
sound  of  singing  came  to  her  ear — sweet  singing  of 
men's  and  women's  voices  mingling  together.  It  came 
nearer,  and  her  surprise  increased,  w^hen,  in  glimpses 
among  the  trees,  she  saw^  a  procession  on  horseback. 
Abashed  she  hid  herself  behind  a  tree  and  peeped 
around.  It  was  a  company  of  men  and  women  return- 
ing home  to  the  Southern  part  of  the  county  from  a 
great  Methodist  camp-meeting  that  had  been  held  at 
the  springs.  The  class-leader  and  his  wife  rode  fore- 
most ;  her  bonnet  hung  by  the  ribbons  down  her  back, 
her  light  brown  hair  lay  in  loose  curls  on  her  shoulders. 
Her  face  was  lighted  up  beautifully,  it  seemed  the  glor- 
ified face  of  an  angel;  all  their  faces  glowed  with  a  joy 
such  as  she  had  never  known  in  her  life  and  as  they 
rode,  some  horses  carrying  double,  in  and  out  among 
the  low-hanging  branches,  their  voices  blended  in  har- 
mony and  sweetness  as  they  sang  that  old  hymn : 

''What  is  it  that  casts  you  down. 
What  is  this  that  grieves  you? 
Speak  and  let  the  w^orst  be  known, 
Speaking  may  relieve  you." 

General  Brinkerhoff  has  said :  'The  settlement  of 
Ohio  was  a  mighty  work  and  those  who  did  it  were  men 
of  iron  nerve,  of  undaunted  courage  and  persistent 
force." 

''God  Almighty  has  so  arranged  and  constituted 
the  nature  of  things  that  nothing  great  or  good,  or 
strong  in  matter  or  mind,  comes  to  the  earth  except  it 
comes  thru  storm.  It  is  the  law,  and  the  struggle  un- 
der it,  which  has  made  Ohio,  of  all  the  states  of  the 

83 


^ 


PIONEERS 

Union,  foremost  in  war  and  foremost  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation." 

The  pioneers  of  Ohio,  for  the  most  part,  were  God- 
fearing, Christ-loving,  serious-minded  men ;  their  cour- 
age was  a  Christian  courage,  rooted  and  grounded  in 
the  hope  of  a  life  that  lies  beyond.  Wherever  they 
went,  churches  went  with  them ;  and,  wherever  log 
cabins  were  gathered,  there  also  was  the  meeting  house 
and  the  school  house." 

The  census  of  1890  showed  that  Ohio  had  more 
church  buildings  than  any  other  state  in  the  Union. 
A  people  who  remember  God  must  of  a  necessity  be  a 
great  people. 

In  closing  his  stories  of  Ohio,  Wm.  Dean  Howell 
says:  'T  am  willing  to  leave  the  reader  with  the  im- 
pression that  the  people  of  Ohio  are  that  sort  of  ideal- 
ists who  have  the  courage  of  their  dreams.  By  this 
courage  they  have  made  the  best  of  them  come  true, 
and  it  is  well  for  them  in  their  mainly  matter-of-fact 
and  practical  character  that  they  show  themselves  at 
times  enthusiast  and  even  fanatics.  It  is  not  ill  for 
them  that  they  should  now  and  then  have  been  mis- 
taken. This  has  helped  to  keep  them  modest  in  the 
midst  of  their  prosperity,  and  their  eminence  in  saving 
and  governing  the  union  of  the  states.  Such  as  they 
are,  they  seem  to  me,  as  a  whole,  the  first  of  the 
Americans." 

Hogs  and  sheep  were  the  most  prized  animals  a 
settler  could  keep.  Pork  filled  the  larder  and  made  a 
most  savory  change  from  the  dry  wild  meats  that  the 
forest  furnished.  The  wool  of  the  sheep  made  his 
warmest  and  finest  clothing    and    kept    the    spinning 

84 


PIONEERS 

wheel  of  the  house-wife  singing  all  the  winter  through. 
But  as  dearly  as  these  were  prized,  yet  the  bear  and  the 
wolf  loved  them  still  more. 

Hogs  were  always  marked  by  bears  for  their  prey. 
Bruin  dearly  loved  pork,  and  would  take  any  risk  to 
obtain  a  savory  meal  of  hog-meat.  They  would  enter 
a  pig-stj^e  close  to  a  cabin,  in  broad  daylight,  and  if  not 
prevented,  carry  off  the  inmates  of  the  stye. 

Pork  was  not  only  a  much  relished  change  for  the 
pioneer,  but  its  fat  furnished  him  lard  for  the  house- 
hold and  its  skin  made  him  sole-leather,  while  the  ani- 
mal itself  was  a  protection  for  him  and  his  family 
against  venomous  snakes.  The  hog  dearly  loved  rattle- 
snakes and  was  its  most  deadly  enemy.  These  animals 
would  spend  hours  to  secure  a  rattler,  and  as  soon  as 
killed,  eat  him.  While  the  bite  of  the  rattler  w^as  death 
to  all  other  animals,  it  did  not  seem  to  affect  the  hogs 
in  the  least. 

Wolves  were  only  troublesome  and  somewhat  dan- 
gerous when  the  settlements  were  few  and  far  between. 
Their  especial  delicacy  was  sheep,  or  when  they  could 
not  get  them,  young  pigs ;  often  killing  them  in  pref- 
erence to  the  older  hogs.  At  first  it  was  almost  impos- 
sible to  keep  either  hogs  or  sheep,  although  both  were 
almost  indispensable  to  the  pioneer  who  had  to  procure 
his  own  provisions,  and  manufacture  his  own  clothing. 
The  settlers  kept  as  many  males  among  his  stock  as 
possible,  as  these  usuallj^  defended  the  younger  and 
weaker  animals.  An  old  boar  wath  his  long  tusks  was 
no  mean  antagonist  as  many  found  out  to  their  cost. 
Even  then  constant  watchfulness,  day  and  night,  was 
necessary  to  preserve  them  from  the  bears  and  wolves. 

85 


PIONEERS 

A  bear-proof  and  a  wolf-proof  pen  was  absolutely  neces-  //' 
sary  for  their  preservation  during  the  hours  of  dark- 
ness. 

Once  upon  a  time  while  a  settler  was  hauling  in 
hay  a  wolf  chased  a  pig  from  among  the  drove  in  the 
woods,  pursuing  it  into  the  meadow  w^here  the  men 
were  at  work.  The  wolf  in  this  race  was  closely  follow- 
ed by  the  drove  of  hogs,  including  several  old  males. 
So  closely  was  his  wolfship  pressed,  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  mount  a  hay-cock  to  save  himself.  In  this 
position  he  was  surrounded  by  the  infuriated  swine. 
Suddenly  one  of  the  larger  hogs  rushed  upon  the  heap 
of  hay,  upsetting  it,  and  dislodging  the  wolf,  which  w^as 
seized  as  soon  as  he  struck  ground  and  literally  torn  to 
pieces.  This  w^as,  however,  of  rare  occurence,  but  hogs 
running  in  the  woods  hunting  nuts  and  tender  roots, 
which  had  escaped  from  the  settlements  and  become 
wild,  were  always  very  ferocious,  and  have  been  know^n 
to  attack  persons.     Luckily,  though,  this  was  rare. 

There  was  a  class  of  men,  not  settlers,  who  were 
found  occupying  lonely  cabins,  and  in  some  cases,  caves, 
in  many  of  the  townships  when  the  first  settlers  actual- 
ly came.  How  long  they  had  been  there,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  find  out.  In  one  of  these  new^  townships  seven 
of  these  squatters  were  so  found.  They  made  no  im- 
provements but  lived  bj^  hunting  and  trapping.  'These 
were  wild-harum-scarum  fellows  who  cared  more  for 
hunting  wild  animals  and  bees,  fishing  and  trapping, 
than  for  tilling  the  soil."  As  soon  as  it  became  too 
crowded  for  these  early  adventurers  they  w^ould  move 
on  to  a  newer  locality  where  neighbors  did  not  exist. 
Not  all  these  strange  characters  were  hunters,  neither 

86 


Q 
< 

U 

o 


PIONEERS 

did  they  consist  altogether  of  the  rough  diamonds  of 
the  borderland.  A  number  of  cases  has  come  under  the 
writer's  notice  in  which  these  forerunners  of  a  rude 
civilization  were  men  of  education  and  refinement,  of 
great  mental  ability  and  culture,  some  of  them  having 
filled  no  mean  positions  in  the  haunts  of  civilization. 
One  was  a  talented  and  successful  minister,  a  graduate 
of  Yale,  a  forceful  speaker  and  a  man  of  power.  One  was 
a  French  trader,  who  had  lost  his  stock  in  trade;  an- 
other was  a  medical  practitioner  whose  powers  of  heal- 
ing were  reputed  to  be  miraculous.  Another  was  a 
graduate  of  Yale,  who  left  that  institution  at  the  head 
of  his  class.  Still  another  had  been  a  commander  of  a 
foreign  army.  Tw^o  were  rich  and  hid  their  money  in 
fence  posts  and  hollow  forest  trees.  All  had  tried  to 
lose  their  identity,  and  memory  of  other  days,  in  the 
unbroken  wilderness  of  the  Ohio  country,  w^here  man 
was  least  and  God  was  most. 

In  the  days  of  an  early  winter  two  of  these  strange 
characters  came  upon  the  track  of  a  bear.  A  light 
snow^  had  fallen  the  previous  night,  and  the  tracks  were 
easily  followed  until  they  stopped  at  the  foot  of  a  hol- 
low tree  standing  on  the  edge  of  a  swamp.  Bruin  holed, 
active  preparatoins  were  at  once  made  to  dislodge  him 
from  his  winter  quarters.  Two  sturdy  pairs  of  arms 
were  soon  swinging  that  great  civilizer  of  Ohio's  for- 
est— the  ax.  Merrily  rang  the  ax's  stroke  and  the 
chips  fell  to  right  and  left.  When  the  tree  was  about 
half  cut  dow^n,  and  quite  unexpectedly  to  the  men,  the 
bear  made  his  unannounced  appearance  among  the 
dogs  and  men,  then  ran  away  along  the  edge  of  the 
swamp.    With  great  hue  and  cry  they  were  after  him 

88 


PIONEERS 

immediately.  The  dogs  being  more  nimble  on  their 
feet  than  the  human  bipeds,  soon  overtook  bruin.  Tige 
and  Jowler  presented  their  compliments  in  the  front, 
while  Trip  and  Penny  attacked  the  enemy's  rear.  The 
hunters  were  soon  on  hand  but  in  the  excitement  of  the 
chase  had  left  their  guns  behind.  The  bear  was  giving 
the  dogs  a  lesson  in  boxing,  and  sundry  yelps  and  kiyis 
bore  evidence  to  his  proficiency  in  that  ancient  art. 
The  men  with  the  exception  of  an  axe  and  tomahawk 
were  unarmed  .  In  this  dilemma  it  was  proposed  to  use 
the  axe  as  an  offensive  weapon,  but  upon  trial,  it  was 
found  that  they  were  in  more  danger  of  killing  the  dogs 
than  the  bear.  The  bear  dropped  down  on  all  fours  and 
commenced  another  retreat ;  one  of  the  men  then  seized 
it  by  the  rump  and  gave  it  three  deep  cuts  with  his 
tomahawk.  The  bear  compelled  him  to  release  his  hold 
and  made  a  masterly  retreat.  The  men  then  returned 
on  their  trail,  secured  their  guns,  followed  the  bear's 
deveous  tracks  some  two  miles  further,  cornered  and 
shot  him. 

Deer  was  hunted  frequently  in  the  night  time  by 
"shining",  when  they  had  come  down  to  the  streams 
to  drink.  A  canoe  being  provided,  the  hunter  would 
place  a  bright  light  in  the  bow,  and  silently  drop  down 
the  stream.  Should  a  deer  be  near,  he  would  stand 
quietly  a  few  moments  and  watch  the  approaching 
light.  The  hunter  in  the  stern  of  the  canoe  could  see 
his  two  eyes  shining  out  of  the  darkness.  Now  was  the 
time,  and  aiming  between  the  two  eyes,  rapidly  fired. 
An  expert  ''Shiner"  frequently  brought  in  six  or  eight 
deer  as  an  evening's  work. 

89 


PIONEERS 

One  November  night  an  Indian  named  "Greasy" 
concluded  he  would  try  "shinning"  on  a  stream  that 
rises  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Reserve.  Placing  fire 
in  one  end  of  his  bark  canoe  and  seating  himself  in  the 
other,  gun  in  hand,  he  dropped  quietly  down  the  stream. 
The  fire  lighted  up  either  bank.  After  going  a  half 
mile  the  hunter  saw  in  the  bushes  tw^o  bright  eyes  gaz- 
ing at  his  beacon  light.  When  he  fired  the  eyes  dis- 
appeared, but  a  wounded  deer  struck  the  water  so  near 
the  canoe  as  to  upset  it,  putting  out  the  light  and  leav- 
ing "Greasy"  to  exercise  his  swimming  powers  in  the 
ice-cold  waters.  He  soon  came  up  and  swam  ashore 
through  the  darkness  and  chill  of  a  cold  winter's  night. 
Shivering  and  half  frozen  he  came  back  to  camp  minus 
canoe,  gun,  deer  and  temper. 

Snakes  were  the  terror  of  the  women,  and  the  pest 
of  the  men  in  the  pioneer  times.  So  plenty  were  rattle- 
snakes that  they  threatened  the  lives  of  all.  The  orig- 
inal surveyors  of  the  Western  Reserve  used  to  kill 
them,  roast  them  over  their  fires  at  night,  and  eat  them 
when  short  of  provisions.  It  was  one  of  these  survey- 
ors that  gave  the  common  yellow  rattlesnake  its  scien- 
tific name,  which  it  bears  today.  General  snake  hunts 
were  organized  quite  frequently  by  the  settlers  in  order 
to  kill  off  these  pests.  Considering  the  number  of  these 
reptiles  it  is  remarkable  that  the  loss  of  life  was  no 
greater.  They  many  times  were  found  in  the  cabin, 
and  sometimes  in  the  bed. 

An  old  Indian  named  Cornstalk  came  to  a  settler's 
cabin  one  night,  and  taking  a  seat  appeared  to  be  very 
downcast  and  glum.  Upon  being  questioned  as  to  the 
cause  he  said: 

90 


PIONEERS 

"Injin  tired.     Injin  hunt  all  day  on  hill  for  bear." 
''Did  you  kill  any?"  was  asked. 
"Me  no  kill  any  deer.    Too  shy !    Me  hunt  for  bear. 
Me  hunt  but  no  kill  bear.     Injin  hungry!    Injin  tired." 
After  a  short  pause  he  continued. 
'Injin  bad  scared  today." 
"What  scared  you?"  was  asked. 

"Me  look  in  rocks  for  bear  sign.  Ugh  !  Snake  big ! 
Me  turn  around,  ugh !  Snake  there,  too ;  me  look  on 
this  side,  on  that  side;  snake  here,  snake  there,  snake 
all  around.     Ugh!     Injin  scared.     Injin  fast." 

The  settler  afterwards  looked  up  the  locality  and 
succeeded  in  killing  hundreds  of  rattlers.  It  was  sit- 
uated in  a  deep,  rocky  ravine,  and  to  this  day  it  bears 
the  name  of  "Snake  Den." 

The  squealing  of  a  pig  was  usually  the  settler's 
notice  that  a  "ba'r"  was  around. 

One  afternoon  while  a  pioneer  and  his  son  were 
digging  potatoes  they  heard  the  squealing  of  a  pig. 
Being  very  busy,  they  paid  no  attention  to  it  at  the 
time.  A  second  time  the  pig  was  heard  to  squeal  in 
the  high  nettles  behind  the  house.  The  pioneer  started 
for  his  gun ;  it  was  empty,  he  had  but  one  bullet  and 
that  had  the  neck  on.  The  gun  was  loaded  and  he  start- 
ed for  the  sounds  of  distress,  when  his  son  told  him 
that  he  saw  a  man  with  a  black  coat  on  carrying  off  a 
hog.  He  soon  discovered  the  bear,  but  the  bear  had 
discovered  him  first,  and  was  ready  for  him.  The  hog 
was  lying  upon  the  ground,  and  bruin  was  standing  on 
him  in  an  upright  position.  The  pioneer  took  careful 
aim  and  fired,  the  bear  dropped  and  the  pioneer  cut  his 
throat  with  a  knife.     The  hog  was  in  bad  shape,  the 


PIONEERS 

bear  had  eaten  the  flesh  along  the  spine  from  shoulder 
to  hips.  The  wound  was  dressed  with  tar,  and  strange 
to  say,  the  hog  recovered  and  afterwards  raised  a  litter 
of  pigs.  .  The  bear  measured  seven  feet. 

In  those  strenuous  days  of  old-time,  women  had 
need  to  be  as  good  rifle  shots  as  their  husbands,  but  the 
majority  could  no  more  fire  a  rifle  accurately  than  the 
women  of  today  can  throw  a  stone.  Yet  it  was  oftimes 
imperative  for  a  woman  to  be  able  to  fire  a  gun,  either 
in  defense  of  her  life  and  those  of  her  children,  or  to 
obtain  food  w^hen  the  husband  and  father  was  absent 
from  home.  Food  by  no  means  plenty  at  any  time,  was 
sometimes  utterly  lacking  in  the  unavoidable  absence 
of  the  head  of  the  family. 

Mr.  Garber  relates  a  story  of  Mrs.  Leedy.  The 
woman's  husband  was  absent  from  home,  "and  about 
noon  the  old.  pig  announced  the  usual  alarm.  Mrs. 
Leedy  seized  the  rifle  and  her  eldest  son  Lewis,  the  ax, 
and  at  once  marched  to  the  field  of  battle,  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  cabin.  The  old  dog,  ''Sign",  ac- 
companied them  and  when  within  a  few  rods  of  the 
spot,  her  restraint  gave  way  to  her  eagerness  for  fight, 
and  she  bounded  at  the  bear.  Bruin  left  without  cere- 
mony, with  "Old  Sign"  at  his  side.  Mrs.  Leedy  brought 
the  old  flint-lock  in  line  and  sent  a  bullet  after  him. 
But  she  was  not  familiar  with  shooting  "on  the  wing", 
and  the  race  went  on.  A  few  days  after,  the  pig  gave 
alarm  again,  and  this  time  Mr.  Leedy  took  down  the 
gun,  and  when  he  arrived  near  the  fight,  the  bear  stood 
upright  on  the  pig  and  eyed  his  enemy  some  time,  ap- 
parently in  a  study  whether  to  contest  the  ownership 
of  the  pig  or  not.    He  sw^ung  his  paws  back  and  forth 

92 


PIONEERS 

a  few  times  but  said  never  a  word.  Mr.  Leedy  knew 
the  enemy,  he  had  seen  him  before.  He  was  the  same 
''ole  bar"  a  chief  among  the  bears.  The  gun  was  fired ; 
the  bear  leaped  into  the  air,  fell  on  his  prey,  howling, 
sprang  forward  towards  his  assailant,  and  after  hesi- 
tating a  moment,  moved  off." 

**It  was  followed  but  darkness  ended  the  chase. 
The  bear  was  wounded  near  the  heart  and  bled  freely, 
yet  lived.  The  next  fall  or  winter  he  came  in  contact 
with  another  settler.  After  receiving  two  bullets 
from  the  hunter's  rifle,  he  invited  him  to  a  rough  and 
tumble  fight,  which  equaled  some  of  Davy  Crockett's 
best.  Seven — some  say — eleven  balls  were  taken  from 
his  carcass,  a  number  of  which  was  returned  to  their 
owners.     Mr.  Leedy  received  the  ball  he  shot." 

The  rifles  of  those  days  were  of  different  bores, 
not  carrying  balls  of  the  same  size.  They  ranged  all 
the  way  from  a  Queen  Anne  arm  carrying  an  ounce 
ball,  to  the  light  squirrel  riffe  taking  a  "thirty  two." 
Every  setler  knew  the  size  of  the  bore  of  his  neighbor's 
rifle,  and  in  finding  a  bullet  in  the  carcass  of  game  not 
belonging  to  them,  they  could  usually  tell  from  whose 
rifle  it  came. 

Women  in  those  days  w^ere  frequently  attacked  by 
wolves,  but  casualties  were  were  fortunately  few.  Mr. 
Garber  is  the  authority  for  the  following:  Rachel  Gat- 
ton  went  to  Mansfield  one  time  with  a  web  of  linen,  to 
trade  for  kitchen  utensils  .  She  went  on  horseback  and 
alone,  her  steed  being  a  rapid  traveler.  After  trans- 
acting her  business,  she  started  for  home  and  when 
about  half-way  she  discovered  that  a  pack  of  wolves 
were  pursuing  her.    She  made  the  best  of  her  time,  but 

93 


PIONEERS 

the  ravenous  creatures  came  up  with  her  finally.  The 
brutes  jumped  at  the  horse  and  bit  him  in  the  side, 
which  made  him  kick,  plunge  and  stamp,  but  he  kept 
faithfully  on  his  course  and  his  rider  clung  to  his  back 
for  life.  They  iri  time  arrived  at  the  cabin."  The  ter- 
ror-stricken girl  was  lifted  from  her  horse  while  the 
wolves  w^ere  driven  away. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  trials  which  the  pion- 
eers of  Ohio  were  called  upon  to  face  and  endure,  but 
these  old  times  have  passed  away,  their  actors  have 
laid  down  the  armor  of  life,  their  forms  are  but  mould- 
ering dust.  The  rampant  and  aggressive  civilization  of 
the  twentieth  century  has  taken  their  places ;  the  soil 
on  which  they  fought  and  starved  and  endured  is  dotted 
with  teeming  cities  and  the  rush  and  hurry  of  count- 
less feet,  3^et  their  deeds  live.  We  are  what  we  are  to- 
day, because  they  were  what  they  were  in  the  dim, 
misty  days  of  tradition. 

Let  us  do  honor  to  the  brave  souls  whom  no  dan- 
ger could  appal,  no  disaster  turn  aside,  no  conditions 
make  afraid.  Fighting  death  in  many  forms,  fearless- 
ly braving  the  terrible  storms  of  a  forest  country,  the 
dangers  of  Hood  and  fire,  fighting  the  wild  beasts  in 
their  most  secret  lairs,  or  the  wild  men  of  the  wilder- 
ness in  their  own  native  fastness  or  enduring  the  pangs 
of  want,  and  hunger,  and  starvation  without  a  murmur. 
Taming  the  denizens  of  an  unknown  and  mystery 
brooding  country,  subduing  the  wilderness,  preparing 
the  virgin  soil,  never  broken,  for  the  seeds  of  a  better 
life,  leveling  the  mighty  monarchs  of  a  primeval  world, 
that  the  sun  of  Heaven  could  shine  in  on  the  accumu- 
lated mold  of  centuries,  teeming  with  richness  that  in 

94 


PIONEERS 

the  future  was  to  bring  forth  food  for  the  tillers  of  the 
wornout  and  overtaxed  lands  of  Europe,  and  finally  to 
make  the  savage  desert  bud  and  blossom  and  bear 
fruitage  for  unknown  and  unborn  generations  of  men 
yet  to  come.  They  kept  their  faith  bright  and  through 
all  these  privations  and  dangers  they  were  destined  to 
build  up  a  people  whose  cleverness  and  conscience,  skill 
and  intelligence,  qualities  of  both  heart  and  mind,  were 
in  the  near  future,  to  not  only  be  the  saviors  of  their 
ow^n  country  or  Nation  in  times  of  appalling  National 
peril,  but  was  yet  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  up- 
on the  hearts  and  consciences  of  the  worn-out  dynasties 
of  all  European  and  Asiatic  countries  in  the  world. 


EARLY  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  WESTERN 

RESERVE 

''Said  the  master  to  the  youth : 
We  have  come  in  search  of  truth, 
Trying  with  uncertain  key 

Door  by  door  of  mystery. 
We  are  reaching  through  His  laws 

To  the  garment  hem  of  cause. 
Him,  the  endless,  unbegun, 

Light  of  all  our  light  the  source; 

Life  of  life,  and  force  of  force." 

Schools  are  the  fore-runners  of  civilization,  the 
pioneers  of  thought,  and  culture  and  force,  the  open 
door  to  joy  and  sorrow  and  thronging  emotion. 

The  pioneers  of  the  Western  Reserve  had  hardly 
settled  dow^n  before  they  began  to  think  of  schools  for 
their  children.  To  the  interest  shown  by  those  people 
in  education  has  been  due  in  a  large  degree  their  suc- 
cess as  a  class  of  people  separate  and  distinct  from  all 
others,  in  so  far  as  education,  love  of  liberty,  and  hu- 
manity to  human  kind  are  concerned. 

There  are  more  educated  people  on  the  Reserve 
than  in  any  part  of  the  state  of  the  same  dimensions. 

There  are  more  educated  people  on  the  Reserve 
than  in  any  other  rural  portion  of  the  United  States  of 
the  same  number  of  square  miles.  There  are  more  edu- 
cated people  on  the  Reserve  than  in  any  agricultural 
section  in  the  world,  of  the  same  number  of  inhabitants, 
and  an  equal  amount  of  territory. 

96 


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X 

H 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

There  are  no  records  now  remaining  of  the  "First 
Schools"  which  were  conducted  on  the  subscription 
plan.  Of  eighteen  townships  in  one  county,  we  find  the 
first  school  was  taught  in  1801 ;  the  second  in  1806 ;  the 
third  in  1809;  two  in  1810;  two  in  1811;  one  in  1812; 
two  in  1817,  and  the  balance  at  a  later  date.  The  settle- 
ment of  these  townships  began  as  follows:  One  in 
1800 ;  two  in  1802 ;  four  in  1806 ;  four  in  1807 ;  three  in 
1810,  and  the  rest  much  later.  When  we  say  settled, 
we  mean  that  was  the  arrival  of  the  first  settler  in  that 
township.  Some  of  these  first  arrivals  were  the  only 
persons  in  their  section  for  several  years ;  others  came 
in  bunches  of  several  families  together.  By  compar- 
ison it  will  be  seen  that  the  starting  of  schools  on  the 
Reserve,  unlike  other  sections  of  the  wilderness,  were 
cotemporary  with  the  arrival  of  other  or  several  fam- 
ilies with  children  to  be  taught.  Wherever  and  when- 
ever there  were  children,  there  were  schools.  The 
western  portion  of  county  referred  to  above  did  not  con- 
tain a  settler  until  after  1814.  The  eastern  portion, 
although  it  had  a  settler  in  1799,  did  not  contain  a  fam- 
ily until  1800,  and  then  only  one.  One  portion,  the 
eastern,  was  surveyed  in  1797,  while  the  western  por- 
tion was  not  surveyed  until  1807.  Medina,  the  county 
lying  directly  west  of  this  county,  shows  the  following 
comparison.  Lying  wholly  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  River 
it  Vv'as  not  surveyed  until  1807.  Fifteen  townships  show 
settlements  as  follows: 

Harrisville    1811 

Liverpool 1811 

Medina    1814 

Brunswick    1815 

98 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

Granger  1816 

Sharon  1816 

Wadsworth    1814 

Guilford  1817 

Westerfield 1817 

Chatham    1819 

Hinckley   1819 

Montville    1819 

Litchfield    1830 

York    1830 

Homer 1831 

Being  wholly  within  the  survey  of  1807,  this  is 
important  as  showing  the  date  and  trend  of  settle- 
ment in  the  western  part  of  the  Reserve.  The  schools 
in  this  country  started  as  follows: 

One  in  1816. 

Three  in  1817. 

One  in  1819. 

One  in  1821. 

One  in  1822. 

One  in  1824. 

One  in  1825,  and  others  later. 

Only  two  of  these  townships  had  settlers  previous  to 
1815.  One  had  only  one  family  for  years,  the  others 
had  five.  Only  twelve  townships  were  settled  previous 
to  1830,  but  there  were  nine  schools  previous  to,  and 
including,  1825. 

One  of  these  townships.  Granger,  saw  its  first 
clearings  and  first  log  cabin  in  1816.  Four  years 
later  1820,  the  township  was  organized,  having  at 
that  time  forty  famihes ;  260  persons. 

This  fully  bears  out  our  statement  that  schools 
on  the  Reserve  were  cotemporary  with  the  arrival 
of  families,  and  children  sufl'icient  to  form  a  school. 

99 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

Many  children  in  those  days  had  to  go  from  two  to 
four  miles  through  the  dense  woods,  sometimes  forced 
to  cross  unbridged  streams,  in  order  to  reach  their 
school. 

Of  the  early  schools  very  little  can  be  learned. 
There  were  no  records  and  those  who  know  are  de'ad. 
Some  were  taught  in  cabins  of  settlers.  Some  town- 
ships erected  log  school  houses  in  the  start.  In  some 
places  the  log  church  was  used  interchangeably  as 
both  school  and  place  of  worship.  The  typical  school 
house  of  that  day  was  a  rude  structure  of  unbarked 
logs  with  a  great  fireplace  occupying  an  entire  end, 
built  on  the  outside  of  the  building,  as  was  the  fashion 
of  that  day. 

The  first  school  taught  in  Ohio,  or  in  the  North- 
western Territory,  was  in  1791.  The  first  teacher 
w^as  Major  Austin  Tupper,  the  eldest  son  of  General 
Benjamin  Tupper,  both  Revolutionary  oflftcers.  The 
first  school  was  held  in  the  northwest  blockhouse  of 
the  garrison  at  Marietta.  The  first  frame  school  was 
erected  here  in  1800.  It  was  forty  feet  long,  24  feet 
wide  and  12<*feet  high.  It  was  named  the  Muskingum 
Academy. 

The  first  school  taught  on  the  Reserve  was  taught 
in  Hudson,  Summit  county,  in  1800,  antedating  the 
first  school  taught  in  Cleveland,  by  Miss  Anna  Spaf- 
ford,  by  one  year. 

The  Ohio  State  Teachers'  Association  was  formed 
in  Akron,  December,  1847.  Samuel  Callaway,  Pres; 
T.  W.  Harvey,  Rec.  Sec;  M.  D.  Leggett,  Cor.  Sec. 
This  was  the  first  successful  teachers'  association  ever 
formed  in  Ohio.     The  first  Teachers'  Institute  formed 

100 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

in  Ohio  was  held  in  Sandusky,  Sept.  1845.  the  second 
at  Chardon,  Geauga  county,  Nov.  1845. 

George  W.  Wright  describes  the  inside  of  the 
early  school  houses:  'The  benches  were  of  logs,  split 
in  halves  and  legs  put  on  the  round  side,  while  the 
split  side  was  smoothed  up  with  an  axe.  Not  a  plane 
ever  touched  them  and  they  were  not  the  most  com- 
fortable seats  in  the  world.  It  was  not  necessary 
to  resort  to  bench  pins,  the  school-boy's  device,  in 
order  to  produce  a  sensation,  for  all  that  was  required 
was  to  pinch  some  one  and  get  him  to  slide  along  the 
bench.  Some  of  the  bad  boys  are  said  to  have  lined 
the  seats  of  their  pantaloons  with  large  pieces  of 
buck-skin  for  their  protection,  both  from  the  rough- 
ness of  the  teacher's  ferule  and  the  roughness  of  the 
benches.  There  were  no  fine  desks  with  all  the  fur- 
niture of  a  modern  school  house,  but  simply  these 
benches  along  which  the  children  ranged  themselves 
and  which  had  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  seat 
and  desk,  each  pupil  piling  his  books  and  slate  on  the 
seat  beside  him.  These  seats  of  learning  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  forest  near  some  blazed  path  which  the 
settlers  expected  to  make  a  road  some  time.  The  pu- 
pils gathered  from  all  directions,  coming  through  the 
woods  by  paths  known  only  to  themselves,  crossing 
streams  on  logs  or  fallen  trees.  On  one  occasion,  in 
time  of  high  water,  a  family  of  some  half  dozen  chil- 
dren were  crossing  on  a  fallen  tree  when  the  youngest, 
/I  little  girl,  becoming  dizzy,  fell  into  the  rushing  water 
;and  was  being  whirled  rapidly  down  stream,  when  in 
plunge^cl  her  older  brother  who  swam  lustily  after  her, 
finally    capturing    her    some  rods  below,  bringing  her 

101 


f 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

safely  to  shore,  after  which  they  hastened  on  to  school. 
This  shows  that  even  the  children  thought  little  of 
such  hardships  and  paid  little  heed  to  mishaps  that 
would  produce  consternation  in  a  whole  neighborhood 
today." 

Later  came  the  puncheon  desks,  a  slab  of  punch- 
eon, or  a  board,  when  they  could  be  obtained,  was  built 
up  in  front  of  those  who  ''wrote  or  figured",  while  the 
smaller  children  contented  themselves  with  the  simple 
forms  first  furnished.  The  scholars  paid  a  tuition  fee 
of  fifty  cents  per  month,  and  the  teacher  "boarded 
around".  The  majority  of  the  earliest  teachers  were 
young  women.  Lois  Ann  Gear,  the  survivor  of  an 
Indian  massacre  at  Upper  Sandusky,  in  which  both 
parents  were  killed,  taught  the  first  school  in  Boston 
and  received  for  her  services  the  magnificent  sum  of 
seventy-five  cents  per  week,  and  "boarded  around". 
Mr.  Stiles,  who  taught  the  first  school  in  Northfield, 
kept  irregular  hours,  and  received  one  dollar  per 
scholar  for  a  term  of  three  months.  In  some  localities 
school  was  held  sometimes  in  one  house  and  sometimes 
in  another.  In  truth  the  schools  for  many  years  fol- 
lowed the  scholars.  The  teachers  of  that  day  were, 
as  a  rule,  good  disciplinarians  and  competent  instruc- 
tors. 

A  little  later,  as  settlers  began  to  multiply  on  the 
Reserve,  "the  old  log  schools"  gave  place  to  the  frame 
school  house;  the  old  forms  gave  place  to  comfortable 
but  homely  seats  and  desks,  of  home  manufacture, 
made  from  native  white-wood.  The  old  fireplace  was 
supplanted  with  the  old  "box  stoves"  made  in  Middle- 
bury. 

102 


L^ 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

Two  terms  of  school  were  taught  in  these  houses : 
a  summer  term  of  three  months,  and  a  winter  term  of 
from  three  to  four  months,  as  the  local  school  board  de- 
termined. With  the  coming  of  the  new  school  houses, 
the  subscription  schools  ended  and  the  new  commenced 
under  the  Ohio  law  as  free  schools.  The  school  houses 
began  to  multiply.  A  township  of  five  miles  square 
would  have  from  six  to  nine  schools  in  its  radius. 

"The  best  education  and  talent  were  always  in 
demand,  and  the  teachers,  schools  and  scholars  of  that 
day,  when  books  were  scarce  and  none  of  the  modern 
facilities  were  at  hand,  would  compare  favorably  with 
those  of  the  present,  taking  into  consideration  the 
altered  circumstances." 

At  this  time,  and  afterwards,  the  schools  of  the 
Western  Reserve  became  a  power  in  the  land.  Though 
books  were  scarce  and  the  course  of  studies  limited, 
there  was  a  thoroughness  in  teaching  and  in  the  ab- 
sence of  anything  to  call  off  the  attention  of  scholars 
and  an  eagerness  to  learn  that  always  surmounted  all 
difficulties.  The  country  schools  at  this  period  fre- 
quently taught  the  higher  mathematics,  Latin  and 
Greek.  The  writer  knows  whereof  he  speaks  by  actual 
experience. 

The  monotony  of  school  life  in  the  winter  season 
was  frequently  broken  by  sleigh  loads  of  other  scholars 
from  neighboring  districts,  or  even  neighboring  town- 
ships, out  on  a  visit  of  inspection  of  other  schools. 

The  spelling  school  was  an  institution  very  much 
appreciated  during  the  long  winter  evenings. 

A  teacher  sometimes  taught  writing  school  one 
evening  in  the  week  or  delivered  lectures.    The  prayer 

103 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

meeting  was  held  in  some  of  these  school  houses.  All 
these  things  tended  to  shape  the  growing  mind  and 
fasten  upon  it  thoughts  and  sentiments  that  remained 
through  life. 

Saturday  afternoons  were  given  up  to  "speaking- 
pieces"  or  ''reading  essays". 

''The  Academy  of  the  Western  Reserve  was  the 
outgrowth  of  the  common  school,  a  cry  for  a  higher 
education  and  greater  advantages.  The  Academies  of 
of  the  Reserve  were  known  far  and  wide  for  their  use- 
fulness and  the  thorough  manner  in  w^hich  they  edu- 
cated these  young  giants  of  a  young  country.  Some 
of  the  finest  educators  in  the  world  stood  at  the  head 
of  these  institutions,  and  their  fame  w^as  only  limited 
by  the  country  in  which  they  lived.  Among  the  great- 
est of  these  was  John  McGregor,  a  native  of  Scotland, 
and  a  graduate  of  St.  Andrew's  College,  Glasgow,  who 
instituted  an  academy  at  Sharon  Center,  Medina  coun- 
ty, which  became  famous  all  over  the  state.  After- 
wards, about  1837,  Mr.  McGregor  founded  the  Wads- 
worth  Academy.  At  this  time  the  rural  population 
of  the  Reserve  was  at  its  greatest  numbers.  The  popu- 
lation of  Medina  County  in  the  census  of  1840  w^as 
fifty  per  cent  greater  than  in  the  census  of  1880. 

A  newspaper  article  published  about  twenty-five 
years  ago  speaks  of  John  McGregor  in  the  following 
language:  "We  sometimes  meet  with  a  man  of  bril- 
liant mind  who  seems  to  be  born  with  a  mission ;  suc- 
cessful in  one  direction  and  in  that  one  alone.  Yet 
that  success  was  so  marked  as  to  out  distance  all  com- 
petitors. Such  a  man  was  John  McGregor.  He  seemed 
to  be  made  for  a  teacher.     In  those  days  the  fame  of 

104 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

Wadsworth  Academy,  which  was  simply  John  Mc- 
Gregor with  a  house  to  teach  in,  extended  far  and  near, 
and  was  known  even  beyond  the  Hmits  of  the  state. 
But  few  teachers  have  had  so  many  pupils  who  have 
been  successful  in  after  life,  mainly  through  the  im- 
pulse given  to  them  by  one  mind.  His  method  was 
perfectly  natural,  simple  and  inimitable.  Graduates 
of  a  modern  Normal  School  would  have  much  to  criti- 
cise in  the  order  he  kept.  But  what  cared  the  enthusi- 
astic Scotchman  so  long  as  his  scholars  were  daily 
drinking  in  his  suggestio/  s  and  instructions  and  catch- 
ing his  enthusiasm,  while  their  lessons  were  not 
covered  over  but  learned  till  thej^  knew  them?  Ht 
scorned  all  code  of  rules  for  the  gcvernment  of  his 
scholars.  ''You're  gentlemen  and  ladies",  he  would 
say,  "You  have  come  here  for  one  purpose  and  that 
alone.  It  is  your  school,  not  mine,  and  you  will  see  to 
it  that  nothing  shall  call  me  from  the  one  work  of  giv- 
ing instructions.  I  rely  solely  on  your  self  respect  and 
sense  of  propriety  and  honor".  It  was  very  rarely  that 
he  reproved,  but  if  it  had  to  be  administered  it  left  a 
scar.  But  such  was  his  simplicity  of  heart  and  sin- 
cerity that  if  on  reflection  he  thought  he  had  done  an 
injustice  to  a  pupil  he  would  voluntarily  ask  pardon 
before  the  whole  school  He  loved  and  took  pride  in  his 
pupils,  and  his  pupils  loved  and  were  proud  of  their 
teacher. 

So  loved  was  the  memory  of  this  educator  that 
his  former  pupils  from  all  over  the  country  met  one 
day  many,  many  years  after  he  had  been  laid  to  rest, 
and  erected  in  the  village  of  Wadsworth  an  imposing 

105 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

statue  by  popular  subscription,   to   commemorate  his 
many  virtues. 

The  growth  of  the  Reserve  Academy  stimulated 
the  growth  of  the  college,  and  we  find  "Oberlin"  the 
first  college  in  the  world  to  offer  co-education,  followed 
rapidly  by  ''Hiram",  and  last  but  not  least  ''Buchtel". 
It  would  be  an  nijustice  to  close  without  mention  of 
the  'Twinsburg  Institute." 

\V.  A.  Goodspeed  in  an  article  written  for  Per- 
rin's,  says:  *'An  institution  which  ,for  more  than  half 
a  century  of  usefulness,  has  done  more  to  improve  the 
intellect  and  morals  than  perhaps  any  other  organiza- 
tion, not  even  excluding  the  churches.  It  dates  its  ori- 
gin as  far  fack  as  1828,  when  yet  the  township  was 
but  a  frontier  settlement,  and  almost  its  entire  surface 
was  covered  with  primitive  forests.  Its  founder  and 
supporter  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Bissell,  a  native  of 
Connecticut,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College.  Soon 
after  his  ordination  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  he 
came  to  Aurora,  Ohio,  and  in  1826  began  a  private 
school  which  was  continued  until  1828,  when  he  came 
to  Twinsburg.  A  block  house  had  been  erected  for 
his  acccommoclation  about  a  mile  west  of  the  center. 
On  the  same  lot  was  a  rude  log  house  twenty  by  thirty 
feet  with  rough  boards  on  the  floor  and  loose  ones  for 
a  ceiling.  Three  openings  were  made  in  the  logs,  in 
each  of  which  was  placed  a  sash  containing  four  small 
panes  of  glass  while  at  one  end  of  this  dismal  room 
was  a  broad  fire  place  with  a  chimney  built  of  stones 
and  sticks  and  plastered  with  clay.  In  the  room  were 
placed  a  few  rudely  and  hastily  constructed  seats  and 
desks  and  the  only  cheerful  feature  of  the  place  was 

106 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

the  roaring  fire  which  hghted  the  room  with  a  fitful 
and  rudy  glow.  This  school  room  was  thrown  open 
to  any  young  people  who  desired  to  attend  without 
any  charge,  except  from  those  disposed  to  pay,  in 
which  case  the  tuition  for  the  term  was  to  be  $2.00. 

So  much  interest  was  created  that  forty  students 
were  enrolled  the  first  term.  Four  years  after  a  com- 
bined church  and  school  room  was  erected.  In  1837 
he  built  a  house  20x35  in  which  he  taught  twenty-nine 
consecutive  years.  Within  the  next  five  years  four 
large  two  storied  buildings  were  secured  and  fitted 
up  as  dormitories  and  dining  halls  for  his  students. 
There  w^ere  now  in  attendance  about  three  hundred 
students,  with  seven  teachers  and  assistants.  Stu- 
dents were  only  charged  from  nine  to  twelve  shillings 
per  week  for  board.  The  benevolence  of  Mr.  Bissell 
was  such  that  he  not  only  lowered  the  price  of  tuition 
but  even  educated  hundreds  at  his  own  expense  who 
were  unable  to  pay  their  way.  More  than  6000  stu- 
dents have  been  in  attendance,  and  out  of  these  over 
200  native  Indians,  Senecas,  Ottawas,  Pottawatomies 
and  Ogibways  have  been  educated  at  his  own  individual 
expense. 

Mr.  Bissell  became  known  throughout  the  Reserve 
for  his  philanthropy  in  the  cause  of  Indian  education. 
This  expense  alone  has  amounted  to  over  $40,000.  And 
to  this  an  equal  amount  expended  by  him  in  educating 
indigent  white  youth  and  you  have  $80,000.  This  ex- 
pense was  born  by  no  one  except  the  principal.  To  off 
set  this  not  more  than  $12,000  had  been  received  from 
all  sources.  These  expenses  were  too  heavy  to  be 
borne  and  his  buildings  had  to  be  sold. 

107 


EARLY  SCHOOLS 

At  this  time,  and  without  means,  the  foundation 
of  a  large  stone  building  was  laid.  Without  experi- 
enced mechanical  knowledge  he  performed  the  most 
of  the  mechanical  and  manual  labor  himself.  He  ob- 
tained a  loan  of  $1500,  purchased  a  horse  and  wagon 
and  the  necessary  tools.  At  the  age  of  seventy,  and 
without  experience,  he  put  on  the  roof,  made  the 
doors,  window  frames,  etc.  When  over  eighty  years 
old  he  was  still  teaching  although  almost  penniless. 

A  large  army  of  ministers,  statesmen,  generals, 
lawyers,  physicians  and  artisans  have  obtained  their 
education  at  his  hands. 

Generous,  self-denying,  patient,  persistent,  he  has 
put  his  faith  in  God  and  loved  his  neighbor  as  himself. 

While  a  pioneer  teacher  was  teaching  her  frontier 
school  one  day  she  was  very  much  alarmed  to  see  the 
painted,  bedizined  figure  of  an  Indian  warrior  step  in 
the  cabin.  The  little  ones  trembled  in  expectation  of 
capture  or  the  tomahawk.  The  most  profound  silence 
prevailed,  the  boys  could  almost  feel  their  scalps  dis- 
appearing, the  teacher  looked  inquiringly  toward  the 
Indian  who  said: 

"Much  pappoose — velly  much  pappoose". 

The  young  lady  teacher  blushed  very  red  at  this 
insinuation  and  felt  greatly  embarrassed  as  the  brave 
thought  the  children  were  all  hers. 


THE  COMMON  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  THE 
WESTERN  RESERVE 

No  arrangements  had  been  made  in  the  scheme 
of  things  in  the  Reserve  to  set  aside  land  for  Common 
School  purposes.  The  Reserve  did  not  become  a  part 
of  the  United  States  until  1800,  and  therefore  the  plan 
that  effected  all  other  parts  of  the  state  did  not  apply 
to  the  Reserve. 

An  act  of  Congress  in  1803  set  apart  and  appro- 
priated to  that  part  of  the  Western  Reserve  east  of 
Portage  Path  and  the  rivers  Cuyahoga  and  Tuscara- 
was, as  an  equivalent  for  Section  16,  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  land  in  the  United  States  Military  District,  to 
compensate  for  the  loss  of  that  Section.  This  amount 
was  equal  to  one  thirty-sixth  of  all  the  land  in  the 
Western  Reserve  to  which  the  Indian  title  had  been 
relinquished. 

The  Indian  title  to  the  lands  of  the  Reserve  west 
of  Portage  Path  and  Cuyahoga  river  not  then  having 
been  relinquished  the  matter  seemed  to  drop  from  pub- 
lic notice  and  remained  so  until  1829.  At  this  date 
the  Ohio  Legislature  in  a  memorial  to  Congress,  di- 
rected its  attention  to  the  fact  that  by  the  treaty  of 
Fort  Industry  in  1805  the  Indian  title  to  the  land  of 
this  section  of  the  Reserve  had  been  relinquished  to 
the  United  States,  and  prayed  in  recognition  of  the 
fact,  that  an  additional  amount  of  land  lying  within 
the  United  States  Military  District  should  be  set  apart 

109 


COMMON  SCHOOL  FUND 

for  the  use  of  the  public  schools  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve, and  equal  in  quantity  to  one  thirty-sixth  of  the 
territory  ceedecl  the  United  States  by  that  treaty. 

The  memorial  produced  the  desired  effect  and  in 
1834  Congress  in  compliance  sold  lands  in  Holmes  and 
Tuscarawas  counties  for  that  pui'pose. 


EARLY  SPELLING  SCHOOL 

When  the  countiT  was  young,  society  being  Hmi- 
ted,  every  means  of  enjoyment  was  eagerly  sought  by 
the  young  people.  Among  the  fun  producing  agencies 
of  that  day  was  the  country  spelling  school.  ''Are  you 
going  to  the  spelling  school  tonight?"  was  the  common 
question  on  a  winters  day.  So  great  an  attraction  was 
it  that  young  people  frequently  walked  many  miles, 
several  times  a  week,  during  the  winter  season  to  at- 
tend one  of  these  mirth  provoking  spelling  bees.  In- 
deed, it  was  no  common  thing  for  sleigh  loads  of  young 
people  to  go  ten  or  twelve  miles  to  some  well  known 
school  house  to  one  of  these  entertainments.  Every 
school  had  its  good  spellers,  some  of  whom  could  spell 
every  word  in  the  old  ''McGuffey's"  Spelling  Book  with- 
out making  an  error. 

The  school  would  decide  to  have  a  ''Spelling 
School",  a  night  would  be  appointed,  and  word  to  that 
effect  passed  on  through  all  the  schools  in  the  town- 
ship. The  good  spellers  would  hunt  up  all  possible 
words  and  study  them  well,  as  it  was  considered  a  dis- 
grace for  the  party  which  gave  the  entertainments 
to  be  "spelled  down". 

When  the  night  came  every  scholar  was  requested 
to  bring  a  candle.  These  tallow  dips  when  lighted 
would  be  set  in  their  own  melted  fat,  some  on  school 
desks,  some  on  the  top  of  the  lower  sash  of  the  win- 
dows or  hung  on  sconces  along  the  walls  of  the  school 
rooms. 

Ill 


SPELLING 

At  an  early  hour  the  crowd  would  begin  to  gather, 
young  maidens  and  young  men,  boys  and  girls,  men 
and  women.  There  would  usually  be  an  hour  of  so- 
cial intercourse  or  solid  fun  and  jollity.  The  young 
men  would  tease  the  girls,  the  girls  would  laugh  at  or 
flirt  with  the  boys  or  play  prude. 

Their  elders  would  talk  of  the  weather,  logging, 
chopping,  township  affairs,  new  roads  and  bridges  to 
be  built,  the  prospect  of  spring  planting  or  sowing, 
or  a  thousand  and  one  things  that  the  pioneer  had  to 
talk  about  in  that  early  day.  The  women  gathered  in 
knots  and  chatted  about  their  spinning  and  weaving 
or  other  homely  housewifely  cares. 

When  the  crowd  had  fully  gathered  and  the  hour 
had  come  to  commence  proceedings  the  teacher  would 
rap  on  his  desk  with  the  ruler  and  call  the  meeting  to 
order.  Two  captains,  usually  two  of  the  finest  spellers, 
would  be  chosen,  viva  voice,  one  to  represent  the 
school  the  other  the  outside  world,  contesting  for  the 
honors  of  being  the  ''best  speller". 

The  captain  of  the  school  would  call  one  of  the 
best  spellers  by  name ;  the  person  so  called  upon  came 
forward  and  stood  by  his  captain's  side.  The  otiier 
captain  would  call  a  man,  and  so  on,  until  all  in  the 
room  who  would  spell  had  been  called  up  .  The  two 
lines  of  spellers  would  then  await  the  coming  contest. 
The  teacher  stepping  in  the  center  would  pronounce 
the  words,  first  one  word  to  one  side  then  another  word 
to  the  other  side;  anyone  missing  a  word  would  take 
his  seat. 

The  teacher  would  pronounce  ''barouche",  the 
word  would    be    spelled    by  the  head  of  the  line,    the 

112 


SPELLING 

next  Word  would  be  spelled  by  the  head  of  the  other 
line.  The  third  word  by  the  second  of  the  first  line, 
the  fourth  word  by  the  second  man  of  the  second  line, 
etc.  The  teacher  would  pronounce,  for  instance  *'whif- 
fletree",  the  person  whose  turn  it  would  be  to  spell 
would  perhaps  say  '*wif-fle-tree".  Next'',  would  say 
the  teacher.  ''Whif-le-tree"  would  spell  the  next  man 
below,  **Next"  and  so  on  until  some  on  spelled  it  right. 
Sometimes  a  dozen  would  go  down  on  a  single  word. 
The  ranks  would  soon  begin  to  thin  until  a  few  of  the 
best  spellers  would  remain  standing.  By  this  time 
all  the  "hardwords''  in  old  **McGuffey's"  would  be  ex- 
hausted. The  teacher  would  take  down  ''Websters 
Unabridged"  and  pronounce  therefrom,  choosing  the 
most  diflficult  words  to  spell.  Sometimes  there  would 
be  but  one  man  left  standing  on  a  side,  perhaps  a  half 
dozen  on  the  other.  Then  indeed  would  the  interest 
deepen  all  over  the  house.  Perhaps  the  single  man 
would  spell  against  the  half  dozen  for  half  an  hour, 
and  then  go  down.  Perhaps  the  half  dozen  would  go 
down  before  the  one  man.  And  then,  the  cheering  and 
hand  clapping  all  over  the  house.  It  was  worth  some- 
thing to  come  off  victor  in  such  a  contest — such  thrills 
can  never  come  again. 

The  spelling  over,  then  came  the  speaking  and 
essay  reading.  The  best  speakers  were  all  known,  and 
would  be  called  out  until  they  came.  For  instance 
some  one  would  call  out  Jones !  ''Jones !"  "Jones !" 
"Jones ! ! !"  would  be  repeated  until  Jones  would  get  up 
on  the  platform  and  perhaps  say: 

113 


SPELLING 

''Flitting  along  the  sidewalk, 
Tripping  cross  the  street, 
Head  and  hands  in  motion. 

Timing  to  her  feet. 
Right  foot  up  and  ready, 

'Ere  the  left  is  down, 
''Bless  me !  what  commotion, 
Coming  through  the  town." 
Or  perhaps  another  would  get  up  and  pose  on  the 
platform  while  he  would  say: 

"Throw  out  to  the  broad  winds 

Your  red,  white  and  blue, 
For  the  heart  of  the  North-land 
Is  beating  for  you. 

Row  land-ward  lone  fisher. 

Stout  woodman  come  home. 
Let  smith  leave  his  anvil. 

And  weaver  his  loom. 
And  hamlet  and  city, 
^'  Ringing  loud  with  the  cry — 

For  God  and  our  Country 

We'll  fight  till  we  die !" 

Declamations  of  all  kinds,  tragic,  comic,  patriotic, 
until  all  had  been  heard  from,  who  would  contribute  to 
the  general  fund  of  amusement.  Then  the  teacher 
would  dismiss  them.  Another  half  hour  of  chat  and 
chatter,  then — the  teacher  would  commence  to  blow 
out  the  candles  one  by  one,  the  young  people  would 
commence  to  pair  off — the  crowd  to  edge  toward  the 
door,  the  merry  shouts,  the  laughter,  the  gingle  of 
sleigh  bells. 

Ah  me!  it  was  worth  while  to  be  young  in  those 
days — the  joy  of  living — the  pulses  beating  high  with 
happiness  and  love,  and  ecstasy.  Who  would  not  be 
a  boy  again  in  the  dear  old  days  of  the  pioneer  on  the 
Western  Reserve? 

114 


PIONEER  COLLEGE  OF  THE  WESTERN 

RESERVE 

The  colleges  of  the  Reserve  have  been  powerful 
factors  in  the  progress  of  the  section.  Every  boy  and 
girl  who  could,  attended  college.  Those  who  could  not, 
and  their  name  was  legion,  at  least  tried  to  get  an 
Academical  education.  The  children  of  the  early  days 
thought  nothing  of  walking  three  or  four  miles  to 
school  each  morning.  If  they  lived  too  far  to  walk 
many  drove,  some  went  on  horseback.  The  writer  him- 
self attended  an  Academy  five  miles  from  his  home, 
making  the  journey  each  day  on  horseback.  If  there 
was  a  boy  and  a  girl  who  lived  too  far  away  from  the 
school  they  would  rent  a  room,  the  sister  would  do  the 
housekeeping,  the  brother  the  wood  chopping  and  the 
chores.  Sometimes  several  girls  would  rent  a  room 
and  board  themselves.  Sometimes  several  boys  would 
club  together  and  "Bach  it".  There  was  no  scandal  in 
those  days,  the  boys  were  gentlemen  and  the  girls  as 
pure  as  Caesar's  wife. 

It  was  a  notable  fact  that  in  those  days  the  boys 
and  girls  who  were  attending  the  High  School  or  Acad- 
emy were  generally  fitting  themselves  for  teachers  or 
preachers. 

The  Western  Reserve  college  was  instituted  in 
1828,  and  was  the  first  college  in  the  territory  of  which 
it  bears  the  name. 

The  college  buildings  are  of  brick  and  situated  on 
a  beautiful  spacious  campus  similar  to  those  of  Yale, 
after  which  it  was  modeled. 

115 


PIONEER  COLLEGES 

This  institution  did  a  phenominal  work.  In  184G 
it  had  nineteen  professors  and  320  students.  In  1882 
it  was  removed  to  Cleveland  and  became  the  Adelbert 
College.     The  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs  was  its  first  president. 

The  Rev.  John  Shepherd  was  possessed  of  an  idea 
of  starting  a  college  on  a  broad  and  liberal  basis,  for  a 
better  education  for  the  youth  of  the  Reserve. 

Impelled  by  this  idea  his  castles  which  had  rap- 
idly widened  and  heightened  until  he  could  see  in  the 
future  a  great  institution  of  massive  and  frowning 
buildings  to  which  the  boys  and  girls  of  this  and  other 
states  would  crowd  in  an  ever  lengthening  throng, 
one  bright  sunny  morning  in  1832  he  mounted  his 
horse  and  rode  forth  into  the  wilderness,  he  rode  on 
and  on  until  he  reached  a  tract  of  land  that  seemed  to 
suit  his  purpose.  The  tract  was  a  dense,  heavy,  un- 
broken forest,  the  land  level  and  inaccessable  from 
roads.  Five  hundred  acres  were  purchased,  the  tract 
cleared.  The  first  meeting  of  the  trustees  was  held  in 
an  Indian  opening  in  the  forest  in  the  winter  of  1832. 
Improvements  were  commenced,  a  log  house  or  two 
erected  and  in  1835  Messrs.  Mahan,  Finney  and  Mor- 
gan were  appointed  as  teachers.  This  log  cabin,  slab- 
hailed,  wilderness  college  was  the  first  college  of  the 
world  to  open  its  doors  to  women,  on  the  same  equality 
with  the  men.  It  was  thoroughly  from  the  start  a 
poor  man's  college.  It  placed  a  collegiate  education 
within  the  reach  of  indigent  and  industrious  young 
men  and  women.  It  even  boarded  them  for  seventy- 
five  cents  a  week,  if  they  ate  without  meat,  or  if  meat 
was  desired,  one  dollar  per  week.  Oberlin  was  early  at 
swords  points  with  the  opinions  of  the  surrounding 

116 


PIONEER  COLLEGES 

country,  but  the  surrounding  country  came  to  believe 
as  Oberlin  did.  Oberlin  was  the  hot  bed  of  abolition. 
She  opened  her  doors  to  the  education  of  the  blacks, 
but  out  of  the  24,000  pupils  Oberlin  has  had,  only  sixty 
colored  persons  have  completed  a  course.  In  1846 
Oberlin  was  flourishing ;  at  that  time  she  was  supported 
by  endowments,  pledges,  500  acres  of  land  in  Oberlin 
and  by  10,000  acres  of  land  in  West  Virginia,  and  had 
at  that  time  492  pupils. 

Hiram  College  is  the  third  college  on  the  Reserve 
to  organize  and  was  under  the  control  of  Campbellites, 
or  Disciples,  as  they  called  themselves.  This  college 
has  been  universally  successful  and  has  sent  some 
great  men  out  in  the  world.  It  is  better  known  as 
"Garfield's  College".  James  A.  Garfield  was  made 
president  of  this  institution  in  1857.  In  1870  the  great 
historian  and  educator,  Burke,  took  charge.  Aaron 
Hinsdale  succeeded  to  the  presidency  of  Hiram  College 
and  held  that  position  until  1882. 

Of  Buchtel  College,  situated  in  Akron,  and  Adel- 
bert  College  of  Cleveland,  it  is  not  our  purpose  to 
speak  as  they  were  born  after  the  iron  age  of  Western 
Reserve  effort. 


THE  HOME  OF  MORMONISM 

Nine  miles  southwest  from  Painsville,  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Chagrin  river,  is  the  village  of  Kirtland, 
known  as  the  home  of  Mormonism. 

The  Mormon  Temple  at  this  place  is  an  object  of 
some  curiosity.  It  is  sixty  by  eighty  feet,  built  of 
rough  stone,  plastered  over  and  colored  blue.  It  is 
marked  out  in  courses  to  imitate  regular  masonry. 
The  spire,  measuring  from  the  top  to  the  base  of  the 
building  is  one  hundred  and  forty-two  feet.  In  front 
of  the  building  is  a  large  tablet  bearing  this  descrip- 
tion, ''House  of  the  Lord,  built  by  the  Church  of  the 
Latter  Day  Saints,  A.  D.  1834". 

The  first  and  second  stories  are  divided  into  ''two 
grand  rooms"  for  public  worship.  The  lower  "grand 
room"  is  fitted  up  with  seats  as  in  ordinary  churches 
with  canvas  sub-divisions  which  can  be  let  down  from 
the  ceiling,  forming  smaller  rooms.  In  either  end  of 
the  room  are  four  pulpits  made  to  seat  three  persons 
each.  The  attic  is  divided  up  into  about  a  dozen  of 
small  rooms.  The  cost  of  this  Mormon  temple  was 
$40,000.  The  Mormons  came  to  this  place  in  1832, 
and  after  remaining  here  some  five  or  six  years,  left 
here  in  1837,  most  of  the  sect  with  their  leader  re- 
moved to  Missouri. 

The  sect  is  divided  into  three  factions,  the  Ring- 
donites,  the  Twelvites  and  the  Strangites. 

The  Strangites  returned  to  Kirtland  in  1883  and 
took  possession  of  the  old  temple.     They  style  them- 

118 


HOME  OF  MORMONISM 

selves  'The  Re-organized  Church  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints." 

Little  Mountain  is  located  near  here.  It  has  been 
claimed  as  the  highest  point  of  land  on  the  Western 
Reserve;  this  is  a  much  disputed  point,  as  Akron  and 
Sharon  township  also  claim  that  distinction.  Little 
Mountain  is  an  abrupt  knob,  some  200  feet  in  height 
above  the  surrounding  country  and  can  be  seen  from 
a  long  distance.  It  is  a  mecca  of  the  curious  and  is 
much  visited.  It  commands  a  delightful  view  of  the 
surrounding  country  landscape  and  of  Lake  Erie,  some 
ten  miles  to  the  north. 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE  WESTERN 

RESERVE 

THE  LIGHT  AND  FIRE 

The  light  used  by  the  pioneer  was  largely  the  light 
of  the  open  fire-place,  supplemented  by  the  torch  of 
pine  knots  or  hickory  bark  for  out  door  work. 

Light  had  its  transitory  period  as  had  all  other 
things.  The  children  of  today  do  not  realize  how  much 
of  the  work  of  their  mothers  and  grandmothers  was 
done  in  the  dark  ,or  at  least  in  a  light  that  would  be 
called  darkness  in  this  age  of  the  world.  The  use  of  a 
vessel  containing  melted  fat  with  a  strip  of  cotton 
cloth  for  a  wick  was  soon  supplemented  by  the  use  of 
dipped  or  moulded  candles.  Candles  were  used  solely  in 
some  families  up  to  as  late  as  1860.  Candles  were 
partl}^  superceded  by  the  use  of  lamps  made  to  burn 
lard  or  fish  oil  notable  mainly  for  their  nasty  and  of- 
fensive smell.  These  lamps  were  followed  by  others 
made  to  give  a  much  brighter,  cleaner  light,  but  were 
highly  explosive  and  dangerous.  The  use  of  coal  oil  as 
a  light  did  not  become  a  factor  of  the  lighting  problem 
until  after  1830  and  was  not  used  generally  until  into 
the  fifties.  In  the  later  sixties  there  were  many  fam- 
ilies yet  depending  on  candles  alone  for  lighting  pur- 
poses. The  coal  oil  of  the  period  included  from  1855  to 
1865,  was  very  explosive  and  many  deaths  were  caused 
by  its  use  .  The  writer  can  remember  selling  coal  oil 
for  eighty  cents  per  gallon,  in  1865. 

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COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  on  the  Reserve 
the  fire  was  produced  by  the  use  of  the  flint  and  steel. 
The  coals  in  the  fire  place  were  covered  up  each  night 
so  as  to  have  live  coals  to  start  a  fire  in  the  morning. 
It  was  a  serious  thing  for  a  settler  to  get  up  in  the 
morning  of  a  cold  winter's  day  and  find  that  he  had  no 
punk  or  light  wood  to  start  his  blaze,  and  his  coals  all 
dead  and  gone  out.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to 
start  with  a  shovel  to  a  neighbor's  to  borrow  a  few  live 
coals  and  it  frequently  happened  that  his  nearest  neigh- 
bor was  located  a  mile  or  two  from  his  cabin.  Hunters 
frequently  started  fire  by  flashing  the  powder  in  the 
pan  of  their  flintlocked  rifles  on  punk  or  doty  wood, 
fanning  it  into  a  blaze. 

The  first  lucifer  match  was  not  made  until  1829 
and  did  not  come  into  general  use  until  many  years 
later. 

The  first  steel  pen  was  not  made  until  1830,  while 
the  use  of  the  quill  pen  continued  in  some  localities  up 
to  1860,  while  it  appears  that  four-fifths  of  the  steam 
engines  now  working  in  the  world  have  been  construct- 
ed during  the  last  twenty  five  years. 

After  the  general  use  of  kerosene  or  coal  oil,  came 
the  use  of  gas  lights  followed  in  turn  by  electric  light- 
ing, new  inventions  in  gasolene  lighting,  many  and 
varied. 

EARLY  GRINDING 

The  early  settler  suffered  much  inconvenience  in 
not  being  able  to  have  his  corn  ground  at  home.  In 
some  sections  the  nearest  mill  was  twenty  miles  away, 
through  a  trackless  forest,  in  which  the  Indian,  bear 

122 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

and  wolves  roamed  at  large.  Corn  was  the  cereal  on 
which  the  pioneer  depended  almost  exclusively  for 
his  bread  .  To  go  to  the  mill  required  two  or  more  days. 
Starting  with  a  horse  and  sledge,  or  on  horse-back  with 
a  bag  of  grain  before  him,  he  found  his  way  by  blazed 
trees  or  well  known  land  marks  to  the  frontier  mill ;  he 
sought  the  cabin  of  some  friend,  or  camped  out  until 
his  grist  was  ground.  Sometimes  he  found  the  miller 
crowded  with  orders  and  had  to  wait  patiently,  fre- 
quently for  days,  until  his  turn  came.  The  spring  of 
1799  w^as  a  noted  era  in  the  history  of  the  Reserve. 
The  first  grist  mill  erected  on  the  Reserve  was  built  in 
the  spring  of  this  year  at  the  falls,  in  Newburgh,  at 
which  the  inhabitants  could  get  their  corn  ground,  in- 
stead of  pounding  it.  In  the  year  of  1807  Capt.  Joseph 
Hart  erected  the  first  grist  mill  in  Summit  or  Portage 
county,  as  it  then  was  known.  This  mill  was  a  great 
convenience  to  settlers  for  twenty  miles  around.  Seven 
years  later,  there  were  only  the  saw  and  grist  mills, 
and  three  log  houses  in  Middlebury.  In  this  year,  1814, 
wheat  was  worth  $3.00  per  bushel,  and  corn  was  $2.00 
per  bushel.  In  1802  a  mill  was  built  on  Tinkers  Creek, 
in  Hudson.  In  1806  a  mill  was  erected  on  Mudbrook 
in  Northampton.  Previous  to  the  erection  of  these 
mills,  and  in  some  sections  still  later,  the  method  used 
to  grind  meal  was  to  cut  a  tree  so  as  to  leave  a  concave 
surface,  or  if  this  could  not  be  done,  burn  out  a  hole  in 
the  solid  stump,  shaped  like  a  wash  basin,  then  bend 
over  a  small  tree  or  sapling  for  a  spring  pole,  bringing 
its  tip  over  the  stump.  To  this  tie  a  bark  of  wythe  and 
suspend  an  iron  wedge,  axe,  or  any  other  heavy  iron 
weight  for  a  pestle.     The  corn  was  then  shelled  and 

123 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

poured  in  the  hollow  of  the  stump,  when  the  spring  pole 
pounding  was  commenced  and  continued  until  a  toler- 
ably good  quality  of  meal  was  made.  Some  made  a 
leather  bag,  filled  it  with  shelled  corn,  placed  it  on  a 
rock  and  pounded  it  with  the  back  of  an  axe  until  the 
corn  was  mashed ;  it  was  then  sifted,  the  finer  part  used 
for  flour,  and  the  coarser  part  used  for  hominy  which 
was  much  relished. 

David  Daniels,  of  Palmyra,  Portage  county,  in  tHe 
fall  of  1799,  planted  a  crop  of  wheat.  After  threshing 
it  out  with  his  flail  he  cleared  up  about  a  bushel  of  the 
grain  and  carried  it  on  his  back  to  a  mill  located  at 
Poland,  0.,  about  thirty  miles  distant;  had  it  ground 
and  returned  with  the  flour  to  his  cabin,  where  for 
the  first  time  wheat  bread  was  enjoyed  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  Western  Reserve. 

For  ten  years  succeeding  the  close  of  the  War  of 
1812,  wheat  brought  only  from  two  to  three  shillings 
per  bushel,  while  a  day's  labor  would  barely  purchase 
a  yard  of  cotton  cloth;  thirty-two  bushels  of  corn  has 
been  known  to  be  exchanged  for  four  yards  of  fulled 
cloth. 

At  one  time  the  nearest  mill  to  Mantua  was  at 
Burton  in  the  next  county.  Rufus  Edwards  on  one  oc- 
casion collected  his  season's  crop  of  grain  and  took  it 
in  a  canoe  to  Burton  to  be  ground,  but  arriving  late  at 
night,  he  left  the  grain  in  the  boat,  intending  to  get  it 
as  soon  as  daylight  appeared ;  but  when  he  went  for  it 
the  next  morning  he  found  that  some  prowling  Indians 
had  carried  it  off.  It  was  all  the  wheat  there  was  in 
the  entire  township,  and  its  loss  was  much  felt  and 
greatly  mourned. 

124 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

TRAPPING 

/'A   simple   plot   is  mine; 

Legends    and  runes 
Of   credulous   days 

Old  fancies  that  have  lain 
Silent  from  boyhood,  taking  life  again." 

'The  common  air  was  thick  with  dreams — 
He  told  them  to  the  toiling  crowd ; 

Such  music  as  the  woods  and  streams 
Sang  in  his  ear,  he  sang  aloud." 

— Whittier. 

While  trapping  is  a  trade  in  itself,  requiring  not 
only  the  cunning  of  the  Indian,  but  the  skill  and  ingen- 
uity of  the  white  man,  yet  it  has  its  charm,  so  subtile, 
so  invidious,  that  when  once  in  possession  of  a  man  he 
finds  it  hard  to  resist  its  demands  on  his  time  and  labor. 

In  the  early  days  the  furs  most  sought  after  were 
the  wolf,  first,  because  he  was  an  enemy  to  man  and  to 
civilization.  Secondly,  because  his  scalp  brought  a 
bounty  of  seven  dollars,  no  small  fortune  in  those  days 
of  privation  and  want.  James  Redfield,  of  Harrisville, 
was  a  famous  wolf-catcher ;  he  had  caught  one  hundred 
and  twenty,  up  to  1830.  He  at  one  time,  bought  a  horse 
for  one  dollar,  which  he  used  to  bait  his  traps. 

The  next  in  value  to  the  hunter  and  trapper  was 
bear.  These  animals  were  so  plentiful  in  those  early 
days  that  the  Indian  would  trade  a  bear-skin  for  a  gal- 
lon of  the  '*pale-face's"  whiskey. 

The  traps  used  in  catching  these  animals  were 
three-fold.  The  first  a  pit,  a  deep  square  hole  dug 
in  the  ground  covered  with  some  light  material 
and  covered  with  leaves,  with  the  bait  placed  in  the 

125 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

center.  The  bear  in  trying  to  reach  the  bait  would 
break  through  the  Hght  material  and  be  precipitated  to 
the  bottom,  caught,  and  caged  by  his  own  efforts.  A 
huge  iron  trap,  with  jagged  jaws,  some  two  feet  in 
diameter,  was  also  used.  The  third  was  made  of  a  cir- 
cle of  saplings  driven  in  the  ground,  with  but  one  open- 
ing. A  huge  log,  supported  by  a  massive  figure  four, 
was  the  instrument  of  destruction.  Deer  were  plen- 
tiful, and  deer-skin  were  always  in  demand ;  they  furn- 
ished couches  and  clothing  for  both  the  red  and  the 
white  man. 

Otters  were  plentiful  about  the  time  the  whites  ap- 
peared, but  they  were  soon  killed  off  or  disappeared. 

We  come  now  to  the  second  generation  of  men,  a 
new  generation  of  men  and  trappers.  The  wolf,  the 
bear,  the  deer,  had  all  been  driven  out  by  the  onward 
march  of  civilization.  The  crash  of  falling  forests,  the 
sounds  of  the  hunter's  horn,  the  blaze  of  burning  logs 
and  brush  heaps,  all  tended  to  force  the  frightened  wild 
beasts  to  move  to  more  westwardly  homes. 

This  new  generation  trapped  for  the  smaller  fur- 
bearing  animals.  The  coon,  the  musk-rat,  the  mink, 
and  the  skunk.  The  most  prized  by  these  men  were 
the  moonlight  coon  hunts,  the  rush  of  coon-dogs,  the 
scurrying  of  the  frightened  coons,  the  blaze  of  torches, 
the  shouts  of  excited  hunters. 

All  this  added  zest  to  the  life  of  the  early  resident. 
The  mink  and  muskrat  were  caught  in  iron  traps  as 
was  also  sometimes  the  case  with  skunks.  But  the 
favorite  way  to  catch  the  latter  was  to  build  a  circle 
with  small  stakes,  and  the  usual  ''figure  four"  trap. 
In  winter  time  large  numbers  were  dug  out.    As  many 

126 


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COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

as  fourteen  have  been  found  in  one  hole.  A  good  black 
skunk  skin  in  that  day,  properly  dressed,  and  with  no 
white  upon  it,  would  bring  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents 
each. 

Those  with  white  upon  them  from  fifty  cents  to 
one  dollar  each. 

A  man  skilled  in  trapping  could  in  the  winter  sea- 
son, make  better  wages  at  this  than  any  other  employ- 
ment, in  that  day. 

GOSPEL  MEETINGS 

'*God  should  be  most  where  man  is  least, 

So,  w^here  is  neither  church  nor  priest. 
And  never  rag  of  form  or  creed 

To  clothe  the  nakedness   of   need — 
Where  farmer-folk  in  silence  meet — 

I  turn  my  bell  unsummoned  feet ; 
He  findeth  not  who  seeks  his   own. 

The  soul  is  lost  that's  saved  alone. 
Of  old  the  fire-tongued  miracle. 

But  flamed  o'er  all  the  thronging  host 
The  baptism  of  the   Holy   Ghost; 

Heart  answers  heart,  in  one  desire 
The  blending  lines  of  prayer  aspire, 

''Where  in  my  name,  meet  two  or  three," 
Our  Lord  hath  said,  "I  there  will  be." 

— Whittier. 

The  early  settlers  coming  as  they  did  from  all  sec- 
tions of  the  East,  and  of  different  nationalities,  suffer- 
ed from  too  many  church  organizations,  rather  than 
too  few.  The  consequence  was  that  many  of  the  new 
organizations  on  the  Reserve  were  too  weak  in  numbers 
to  do  efficient  work.  Yet  from  the  first  the  people  were 
never  without  the  Sabbath,  and  the  worship  of  God, 

129 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

the  settlers  generally  being  men  and  women  of  strong 
religious  convictions. 

The  Rev.  Edward  Brown,  in  his  memorial  sermon 
at  Wadsworth,  at  the  celebration  of  the  60th  anniver- 
sary of  the  settlement  of  Wadsworth,  said:  ''Today 
all  unite  in  the  most  affecting  tribute  of  respect  to  those 
old  Christian  pioneers  who  like  the  Father  of  the  faith- 
ful, erected  the  altar  of  God  wherever  they  went.  The 
foundation  of  the  prosperity  of  the  place  was  laid  in 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  erection  of  the 
log  schoolhouse  in  the  wilderness,  to  serve  the  double 
purpose  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  and  a  sanctuary  for 
the  pure  worship  of  God. 

I  have  heard  my  father  tell  of  the  arrangement  he 
and  Mr.  Warner  made  together  to  set  up  the  public 
worship,  in  a  more  permanent  manner.  He  had  just 
arrived  the  previous  week.  Hearing  that  religious 
meetings  were  held  at  a  house  of  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Warner,  the  three  families  went  on  Sabbath  morning, 
through  the  woods  to  his  house.  The  meeting  was  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  Warner;  those  who  were  singers  assist- 
ing in  that  part  of  the  worship,  and  my  father  taking 
part  in  speaking  and  prayer.  After  the  meeting,  Mr. 
Warner  called  my  father  into  the  other  part  of  his 
double  log  house  for  private  conference.  'Tirst,"  said 
he,  "I  wish  to  know  who  and  what  you  are  ?"  My  father 
replied,  'We  are  Congregationalists  from  Connecticut". 
Mr.  Warner  replied,  "My  parents  were  Congregational- 
ists ;  I  am  a  Methodist  and  I  have  been  almost  alone  in 
keeping  up  meetings  the  year  past ;  and  now  I  propose 
that  we  unite  and  we  can  sustain  meetings  every  Sab- 
bath.   I  see  you  are  singers ;  that  will  be  a  great  help. 

130 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

And  now  your  people  have  a  practice  that  I  Uke ;  that 
of  reading  a  sermon  wh^n  3^ou  have  no  preacher.  Have 
you  any  volumes  you  can  bring  to  read  from?"  **I  have 
many,"  replied  my  father.  The  meetings  were  con- 
ducted jointly  by  these  two  men,  in  the  manner  agreed 
upon  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Warner,  until  the  erection  of 
the  south  schoolhouse,  the  next  fall,  when  they  were 
held  in  the  schoolhouse.  Here  began  a  fraternal  union 
between  these  two  old  pioneers,  who  may,  without  any 
injustice  to  others,  be  termed  the  founders  of  the  Meth- 
odist and  Congregational  Churches.  A  union  that  was 
never  broken." 

Through  these  early  beginnings  I  have  sketched, 
the  Sabbath  has  ever  been  kept  as  a  day  of  rest  and 
worship  and  moral  and  religoius  atmosphere  created; 
the  soil  broken  up  and  prepared,  from  which  the 
churches  of  today  have  sprung. 

The  first  religious  services  in  the  different  town- 
ships seem  to  have  been  held  in  private  houses,  then  in 
the  schoolhouses  and  finally,  houses  of  worship  were 
built.  The  history  of  religion  in  one  township  is  much 
like  that  of  any  other.  To  write  a  religious  history  of 
the  Reserve,  in  all  its  aspects,  and  in  every  township, 
would  make  many  large  volumes.  As  settlers  became 
more  numerous,  neighborhood  prayer  meetings  were 
held  in  many  townships. 

Villages  frequently  saw  two  or  more  denomina- 
tions unite  and  build  a  union  church  building.  Each 
denomination  using  the  building  alternate  Sabbaths, 
both  congregations  attending  each  other's  services. 
From  these  humble  beginnings  have  sprung  all  the 
churches  that  now  dot  the  fair  expanse  of  our  beloved 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

country.  Starting  right,  under  all  kind  of  difficulties; 
giving  to  God  what  was  God's  and  rendering  to  Caesar, 
what  was  Caesar's,  they  formed  the  beginning  of  one 
of  the  greatest  people  that  was  ever  confined  within 
geographical  boundaries.  A  people  who  in  their  love 
of  God,  fellowmen,  fair  play  and  love  of  liberty,  are 
distinctive  from  the  people  of  the  rest  of  the  state,  or 
the  states  surrounding  them.  They  have  left  their  im- 
print on  National  character  and  National  History. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Badger,  of  Massachusetts,  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale  College,  and  an  ex-revolutionary  soldier, 
was  the  first  minister  of  the  gospel  to  come  to  the 
Western  Reserve  for  the  purpose  of  ministering  to  the 
religious  wants  of  the  white  race.  There  were  other 
missionaries  before  him,  but  they  had  come  to  teach 
the  red  man  the  straight  and  narrow  way  that  leadeth 
to  Salvation. 

The  Rev.  Badger  came  here  with  an  earnest  pur- 
pose, traveling  from  point  to  point  on  horseback,  hold- 
ing services  at  log-cabins  throughout  the  wilderness, 
and  later  in  log  schoolhouses.  He  was  very  much  loved 
and  esteemed  by  the  early  people,  and  his  earnest  ef- 
forts bore  much  good  fruit,  and  in  the  end  was  crowned 
by  an  abundant  and  lasting  success.  In  some  parts  of 
the  Reserve  he  laid  the  broad  foundations  of  a  Chris- 
tian morality  which  has  largely  tinctured  the  whole 
civilization  of  this  section  of  the  state.  It  is  said  of 
him  that  he  was  the  friend  of  everybody  and  that 
everybody  was  his  friend. 

Among  the  pioneer  ministers  it  would  be  unjust 
not  to  mention  Rev.  William  Wick,  of  Long  Island,  New 
York.    He  removed  to  Youngstown  in  1800.    Pie  was  a 

132 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

clergyman  of  the  Presbyterian  faith.  He  preached  in 
a  log'  church  in  Youngstown  for  a  number  of  years, 
raising  a  large  family  of  children  and  preaching  the 
gospel  whenever  opportunity  offered.  He  was  a  very 
earnest  and  godly  man  and  his  efforts  brought  forth 
much  that  was  good  in  his  wide  circle  of  labor  on  the 
Reserve.  During  his  pastorate  in  the  Ohio  wilder- 
ness he  preached  1,522  sermons  and  married  fifty-six 
couples,  a  record  that  has  never  been  exceeded  by  any 
other  clergyman  in  the  same  length  of  time  and  under 
the  same  condition.  He  left  an  influence  for  good  that 
in  his  locality  is  yet  felt.  He  died  in  1815,  while  yet  the 
Connecticut  Western  Reserve  was  in  its  swaddling 
clothes,  leaving  behind  him  eight  stalwart  sons  and  five 
amiable  daughters  to  mourn  the  good  man  who  had 
once  more  "gone  on  before". 

The  first  church  organization  on  the  Reserve  was 
that  of  Austinburgh  in  1801.  The  membership  of  this 
early  church  consisted  of  only  sixteen,  with  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Badger  as  organizer  and  pastor.  Revival  ser- 
vices were  held,  great  excitement  followed,  the  whole 
country  was  awakened  to  its  religious  needs  and  some 
thirty  or  forty  new  members  were  added  to  the  church 
membership,  and  the  organization  at  once  was  placed 
on  a  sound  and  healthy  basis.  Conviction  was  called 
the  "jerks",  and  seemed  to  take  the  form  of  jumping, 
contortion,  etc.  Nearly  all  the  women  on  whom  the 
holy  spirit  was  working,  sprang  to  their  feet,  whirled 
around  and  around  on  their  toes  with  extended  arms 
and  dishevelled  hair  until  exhausted,  wlien  they  fell  to 
the  floor  and  passed  into  a  seeming  trance, 

133 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

There  were  many  other  intelhgent  and  able  work- 
ers in  this  new  field,  men  of  recognized  ability  and  grad- 
uates of  eastern  or  foreign  colleges ;  they  did  much 
good  and  labored  zealously,  but  they  have  been  forgot- 
ten as  those  who  knew  them,  and  whose  hearts  loved 
them,  have  long  since  crumbled  to  the  dust.  Two  or 
three  score  of  years  has  succeeded  in  burying  them  and 
even  their  names  in  the  oblivion  of  the  forgotten  past. 

EARLY  SALT  INDUSTRY 

Adventurers,  it  has  been  said,  penetrated  to  the 
Mahoning  salt  springs  as  early  as  1755,  but  no  reliable 
authority  has  been  advanced  to  prove  the  statement, 
except  the  fact  that  the  ''Salt  Springs"  was  laid  down 
in  Evan's  map,  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1755. 

Col.  James  Hillman,  of  Youngstown,  one  of  the 
oldest  pioneers  of  the  Reserve,  transported  goods  as 
early  as  1786  from  Pittsburgh  by  way  of  the  Salt 
Springs,  Ravenna,  mouth  of  Tinkers  Creek,  then  down 
the  Cuyahoga  to  its  mouth  where  the  schooner  Mack- 
inaw picked  up  his  goods  and  took  them  to  Detroit. 

Hillman  says  that  he  erected  a  log  hut  at  Cleve- 
land, which  was  the  first  house  built  in  that  place,  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  houses  of  the  Ottaways,  then 
abandoned,  at  the  mouth  of  Tinkers  Creek,  and  the 
abandoned  houses  at  the  Salt  Springs,  there  was  not 
another  house  between  the  Ohio  River  and  Lake  Erie. 
In  1786  Hillman  says  he  made  six  trips  from  Pittsburg 
to  Cleveland.  Each  time  his  caravan  consisted  of  ten 
men  and  ninety  horses.  He  says  that  in  1786  there 
were  three  or  four  houses  standing  at  the  Salt  Springs, 
empty,  and  that  these  three  or  four  cabins  were  the 

134 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

only  houses  erected  by  the  whites  between  the  Ohio 
and  the  lake,  on  his  route.  Those  at  the  Salt  Springs 
were  built  for  the  accommodation  of  the  persons  sent 
there  to  make  salt,  and  the  tenants  were  dispossessed 
during  the  summer  of  1785,  by  the  order  of  Gen.  Har- 
mar.  During  the  year  1786,  Hillman  left  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Kribs,  at  the  Salt  Springs  to  care  for  a  stock 
of  goods  stored  in  one  of  the  vacant  houses.  On  Hill- 
man's  return  his  party  found  the  remains  of  Kribs, 
who  was  murdered  by  the  Indians,  and  his  body  hor- 
ribly mangled  by  the  wolves. 

These  Salt  Springs  situated  in  the  township  of 
Weathersfield,  near  the  Mahoning  River,  were  spoken 
of  by  the  surveyors  of  the  Reserve;  Augustus  Porter, 
one  of  the  surveying  party,  alludes  to  it  as  being  open 
ground  of  two  or  three  acres,  where  salt  had  evidently 
been  manufactured  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years 
by  the  aborigines,  and  possibly  by  the  white  men.  He 
found  the  salt-works  in  a  general  state  of  dilapidation. 
Among  the  evidences  of  their  former  occupation,  he 
discovered  partly  buried  beneath  the  soil,  several  plank 
vats,  iron  kettles,  and  other  articles,  which  had  at  one 
time  been  employed  in  salt  making  by  persons  possess- 
ed of  more  skill  and  intelligence  than  the  natives.  He 
also  found,  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  an  Indian  and  his 
squaw  engaged  in  boiling  the  saline  waters  to  the  con- 
sistency of  salt  in  a  very  slow  and  primitive  way.  They 
sold  this  product  to  the  white  settlers,  who  were  glad 
to  obtain  it,  although  obliged  to  pay  for  it  at  the  rate 
of  $16  per  bushel. 

These  works  were  said  to  have  been  established  by 
Gen.  Parsons  of  Connecticut  by  permission  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  that  state. 

135 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

Amzi  Atwater,  who  was  one  of  the  surveyors  of 
the  Reserve,  and  a  pioneer  of  Portage  County,  says: 
''It  was  understood  that  Gen.  Parsons  had  some  kind 
of  a  grant  from  the  State  of  Connecticut  and  came  on 
there  and  commenced  making  salt,  and  was  drowned  on 
his  return  at  Beaver  Falls".  On  the  first  map  made  of 
the  Reserve  by  Mr.  Seth  Pease,  in  1789,  a  tract  was 
marked  off  and  designated  as  ''the  salt  spring  tract". 
I  have  understood  that  the  heirs  of  Gen.  Parsons  ad- 
vanced some  claims  to  that  tract,  but  I  believe  without 
success.  At  an  early  part  of  the  settlement  consider- 
able exertions  were  made  to  establish  salt  works  at 
that  place,  but  the  water  was  too  weak  to  make  it 
profitable." 

The  Indians  used  to  make  salt  from  water  obtain- 
ed from  a  spring  situated  near  the  Rocky  River,  in 
Liverpool  Towmship,  Medina  County. 

Afterward,  the  manufacture  of  salt  was  started 
by  the  whites  and  continued  for  some  years. 

The  spring  was  improved  by  sinking  a  very  wide 
well  on  its  location,  the  depth  was  some  162  feet,  by 
Justus  Warner  and  others.  Aaron  Warner  said  "there 
are  boards  now  on  my  barn,  which  cost  me  one  bushel 
of  salt  per  thousand,  and  the  nails  to  put  them  on  with, 
twenty  cents  per  pound,  and  brought  them  from  Cleve- 
land on  horseback,  being  three  days  on  the  journey." 
Salt  sold  for  $20  per  barrel,  at  the  well. 

BIG  SLEIGH  RIDES 

"Then  toiled  again  the  cavalcade 

O'er  windy  hill  through  clogged  ravine. 

And  woodland  paths  that  wound  between 

Low  drooping  pine  boughs  winter  weighed. 

136 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

From  every    barn  a  team  afoot, 

At  every  house  a  new  recruit, 
Where  drawn  by  nature's  subtlest  law 

Haply  the  watchful  young  men  saw 
Sweet  doorway  pictures  of  the  curls 

And  curious  eyes  of  merry  girls, 
Lifting  their  hands  in  mock  defense 

Against  the  snow-ball's  compliments  , 
And  reading  in  each  missive  tost 

The  charm  with  Eden  never  lost". 

— Whittier. 

Although  not  Pioneer  incidents,  yet  the  big  sleigh- 
rides  have  been  incidents  of  more  than  passing  interest 
and  many  stories  are  yet  told  of  them  around  winter 
hearths  throughout  the  Reserve.  The  following  ac- 
count taken  from  a  newspaper  article,  aptly  describes 
the  occurence  which  took  place  in  the  winter  of  1856. 
The  winter  was  one  of  unusual  severity  with  great 
quantities  of  snow,  which  lay  on  the  ground  until  after 
the  time  when  robins  should  have  been  singing  their 
morning  lays  to  re-awakened  nature.  Upon  a  certain 
occasion  during  the  winter,  a  border  township  turned 
out  a  number  of  four-horse  sleighs,  while  one  of  the 
number  bore  a  rude  banner  made  of  cotton,  a  yard 
square  upon  which  was  painted  a  negro  boy  with  his 
thumb  on  the  end  of  his  nose,  his  hand  spread  out,  and 
a  scroll  from  his  mouth  bearing  the  legendary  words, 
"You  can't  come  it."  This  friendly  challenge  brought 
other  townships  into  competition,  and  the  rude  banner 
passed  from  one  to  another,  as  it  was  captured  by  a 
larger  number  of  four  or  six-horse  sleighs  than  had 
been  turned  out  by  the  predecessor,  until  it  became  a 
Summit  County  banner  belonging  by  right  of  capture 

137 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 

to  Richfield  township.  To  such  an  extent  had  the  affair 
gone  that  it  now  became  a  county  matter,  and  Medina, 
Cuyahoga  and  Summit  counties  entered  into  the  con- 
test. A  day  was  set — March  14,  1856 — when  one  or 
the  other  would  wrest  the  prize  from  Summit.  The 
day  came,  and  with  it  a  large  concourse  of  people  to 
this  friendly  battle  of  the  sleighs.  As  Richfield  held 
the  prize,  it  was  decreed  that  the  meeting  should  take 
place  in  that  town.  And  the  particular  township  turn- 
ing out  the  largest  number  of  sleighs  on  the  great  trial 
day  should  receive  the  flag  and  in  turn  present  it  to  its 
respective  county.  When  all  had  assembled,  the  mar- 
shals proceeded  to  count  the  sleighs  of  each  county, 
which  were  found  to  be :  Medina  County,  140 ;  Cuya- 
hoga County,  151 ;  Summit  County,  171 ;  a  total  of  462 
four  and  six-horse  sleighs  in  one  grand  and  friendly 
rivalry  for  a  rude  banner  that  cost  originally — just  six 
cents.  The  procession  was  formed  and  passed  on  to 
Akron  with  the  most  perfect  order  and  decorum.  Upon 
arrival  the  flag  was  presented  to  Hudson  township,  as 
having  the  largest  number  of  teams,  by  James  W.  Weld 
of  Richfield,  and  received  on  the  part  of  Hudson  by  Dr. 
C.  R.  Pierce,  who  presented  it  in  accordance  with  a  pre- 
arrangement,  to  the  County  of  Summit.  The  crowd  at 
this  sleigh  ride  was  variously  estimated  by  eye-wit- 
nesses at  not  fewer  than  from  five  to  ten  thousand  per- 
sons. Many  of  the  sleighs  were  handsomely  decorated 
with  evergreens  and  profusely  decorated  with  flags. 
All  passed  off  in  the  utmost  harmony  and  not  an  acci- 
dent of  any  kind  occurred  during  the  day.  Akron  re- 
ceived the  banner  with  great  dignity,  w^hich  was  to  be 
preserved  among  the  relics  of  the  county  until  some 

138 


COLONIAL  ACTIVITIES 


rival  should  come  with  a  larger  number  of  teams  than 
she  had  turned  out  on  this  occasion.  The  glory  of  be- 
ing possessor  of  the  prize  was  short  lived. 

On  the  following  Tuesday  Medina  County  came 
over  with  185  four  and  six-horse  sleighs,  being  four- 
teen more  than  Summit  County  had  turned  out.  The 
banner  was  turned  over  to  her  and  carried  to  Medina, 
where  it  was  deposited  among  the  archives  of  the  coun- 
ty, to  be  kept  until  captured  by  some  other  rival.  It 
still  remains  the  prize  of  Medina  County,  and  thus  end- 
ed the  most  remarkable  sleigh  rides  on  record. 


COLONIAL  RESOURCES 

FOREST,  FRUIT  AND  NUT  TREES 

The  first  settlers  on  the  Western  Reserve  found 
the  whole  country  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of 
gigantic  forest  trees,  the  result  of  centuries  of  uncheck- 
ed growth.  For  unnumbered  ages  the  trees  had  dead- 
ened, fallen  and  rotted  in  the  forest.  Added  to  this  the 
annual  harvest  of  leaves  and  the  soil  had  become  a  rich, 
dark  vegetable  mold  fertilized  from  nature's  inexhaust- 
ible storehouse  in  preparation  of  the  day  when  a  new 
race  of  men  was  to  turn  its  deep  alluvial  riches,  aug- 
mented and  improved  by  that  great  natural  chemistry, 
the  sun,  and  frost,  and  rain  and  wind  into  a  food  and 
life,  and  to  build  a  new  Plymouth  in  a  far  distant  west. 

There  were  oaks  of  several  varieties,  but  the 
mighty  white  oak,  reaching  its  tops  far  above  the  for- 
est, while  its  massive  limbs  as  large  as  the  trunk  of  an 
ordinary  tree  proclaimed  it  King  of  forest  life.  These 
trees  were  from  three  to  six  feet  in  diameter  with  their 
thick  rough  bark.  Next  to  these  in  thickness  and 
height  and  massive  proportions  came  the  whitewoods, 
less  rugged  and  more  gentle ;  but  if  the  oaks  w^ere 
kings,  the  whitewoods  were  queens  of  the  unbroken 
wilderness.  On  the  ridges  were  found  immense  chest- 
nuts; the  writer  measured  the  stump  of  one  of  these 
that  was  26  feet  in  circumference.  This  was  the  favor- 
its  tree  for  rails,  as  a  chestnut  rail  would  last  a  life- 
time.   Then  came  the  tall,  stiff  hickory  in  all  its  species 

140 


COLONIAL  RESOURCES 

— the  shagbark  predominating.  Next  the  wide-spread- 
ing beech  trees  so  famous  for  fuel,  and  its  three- 
cornered  dark  colored  nuts  that  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
lay  thick  upon  the  leaf-strewn  ground  and  on  which 
the  wild  pigeons  fed.  Then  the  beautiful  hard,  or  sugar 
maple,  that  has  proven  a  fortune  to  many  a  hard- 
worked  Reserve  farmer.  The  soft  and  silver  maple 
also  held  their  places  among  the  forest  trees.  Again 
came  the  linden,  or  basswood,  the  honey  producer  for 
the  forest  wild  bee.  The  others  were  the  sumach, 
white  ash,  cucumber  or  peperidge,  white,  red  and  slip- 
pery elm,  the  latter  the  rope-producing  and  medicinal 
tree.  The  immense  black  walnut,  often  rivaling  in  size 
the  magnificent  oaks  and  white  woods,  the  bark  used 
for  dyes  and  its  rich  aromatic  nuts  for  food.  Of  this 
species  was  the  butternut,  with  its  elongated,  savory 
nuts,  and  its  bark  used  in  place  of  calomel.  Here,  too, 
was  the  wild  cherry,  another  medicinal  tree,  both  in 
its  fruit  and  bark.  The  wild  juniper,  with  its  luscious 
berries  that  came  in  June;  the  hemlock,  whose  bark  as 
well  as  the  oak  was  used  for  tanning.  The  buckeye, 
with  its  peculiar  foliage  and  its  strange  nut,  from 
which  the  State  of  Ohio  was  named.  The  fragrant 
dogwood,  whose  blossoms  were  another  pioneer  medi- 
cine ;  the  sassafras,,  a  famous  medicinal  tree ;  the  iron- 
wood,  which  was  used  by  the  settler  in  place  of  iron,  it 
being  almost  unburnable  and  unbreakable.  There  was 
also  the  black  ash,  tamarack,  sycamore,  birch  and  pine. 
The  nuts  were  the  acorn,  the  shellbark  and  pig 
hickory  nuts,  black  walnuts,  butternuts  and  hazel  nuts. 
The  fruit-bearing  trees,  bushes  and  vines  were  the  wild 
cherry,  wild    plum,  yellow    and    purple;    the    juniper 

141 


COLONIAL  RESOURCES 

berry,  wild  crabapple,  white,  red  and  black  -haw;  the 
whortleberry,  or  as  it  was  usually  called  the  huckle- 
berry; the  wild  blackberry,  raspberry,  gooseberry, 
serviceberry,  currant,  cranberry,  strawberry,  dewberry 
and  wild  grape. 

Among  the  game  animals  came  the  mastodon,  but 
before  man;  then  the  buffalo  and  elk,  both  scarce  at 
the  coming  of  the  settler.  Then  came  the  panther,  wild 
cat,  wolf,  deer,  bear,  fox,  marten,  otter,  muskrat, 
beaver,  polecat  or  skunk,  the  groundhog  or  woodchuck, 
opossum,  mink,  raccoon,  rabbit,  black,  grey,  red  and 
fox  squirrels ;  weasel  and  porcupine.  We  have  included 
in  this  the  fur-bearing  animals  as  well. 

Among  the  game  birds  were  the  swan,  wild  goose, 
turkey,  black  duck,  mallard,  wood  duck,  jacksnipe, 
sandsnipe,  pheasant,  quail,  woodcock,  rail,  pigeon, 
dove,  etc. 

Among  the  birds  of  prey  were  the  eagle,  both  bald 
and  grey;  the  hen  hawk,  fish  hawk,  pigeon  hawk; 
shrike  or  butcher  bird ;  the  horned  cat  or  screech  owl, 
the  loon,  shitepoke,  crane,  crow  and  buzzard. 

The  fresh  water  lakes,  rivers  and  streams  abound- 
ed with  great  quantities  of  fish  in  many  varieties,  eels 
and  turtles. 

PIONEER  CRANBERRY  FIELDS 

When  the  country  was  new,  wild  cranberries  were 
very  plentiful  in  many  parts  of  the  Reserve.  These 
seemed  to  thrive  on  the  low  or  swamp  lands.  Settlers 
in  many  sections  gathered  them  not  only  for  their  own 
use  but  to  market  for  profit.  Perrin,  in  his  history  of 
the  cranberry  fields  of  Franklin,  as  follows:  'In  early 

142 


PIONEER  COLLEGES 

years  thousands  of  bushels  of  cranberries  grew  annu- 
ally in  the  numerous  Franklin  swamps.  These  cran- 
berry fields  were  called  marshes,  and  the  berries  were 
gathered  by  the  Indians  before  the  first  settlers  ar- 
rived, and  taken  to  Pittsburg  and  other  towns  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia,  where  they  were  exchanged  for 
ammunition,  clothing,  ornaments,  etc." 

The  berry  is  a  member  of  the  heath  family.  The 
plant  is  a  creeper  or  trailer,  with  slender,  hardy,  woody 
stems  and  small  evergreen  leaves,  more  or  less  white 
underneath.  The  stems  are  often  from  one  to  three 
feet  long,  and  the  flowers  are  lateral,  rendering  easy 
the  gathering  of  the  berries.  The  plants  require  very 
wet  ground,  and  are  often  found  growing  where  the 
soil  is  covered  with  several  inches  of  water.  The  con- 
ditions for  the  possible  life  of  the  plant  have  been 
almost  wholly  removed,  and  cranberries  have  not  been 
grown  in  paying  quantities  in  either  township  or 
county  for  over  twenty  years.  The  berries,  which  get 
ripe  in  autumn,  are  red  with  some  yellow,  and  are  very 
acid.  The  harvest  begins  in  October  and  is  only  closed 
by  cold  weather  or  perhaps  the  quantity  fails.  They 
are  gathered  during  the  spring  months  also,  having 
remained  out  all  winter.  They  are  less  acid  when  gath- 
ered in  the  spring,  as  the  freezing  converts  portions  of 
the  starchy  substance  of  the  berries  into  sugar  com- 
pounds, and  in  this  condition  the  berries  are  valued 
more  highly,  as  less  sugar  is  required  to  fit  them  for 
the  table.  When  the  township  was  first  settled  the 
berries  were  almost  worthless,  as  there  was  no  market 
for  them  in  the  west,  and  the  sugar  required  to  sweeten 
them  prevented  their  general  use  in  the  cabins  of  the 

143 


COLONIAL  RESOURCES 

settlers.  About  1830  they  rose  in  value  from  fifty 
cents  to  one  dollar  per  bushel.  The  cranberry  business 
becamti  very  extensive.  Thousands  of  bushels  were 
purchased  annually  by  the  merchants  of  Manchester, 
Clinton  and  other  neighboring  villages,  and  taken  to 
wagon  to  Pittsburg,  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  the 
teamsters  bringing  back  loads  of  dry  goods,  groceries, 
salt,  notions,  etc.  Water-tight  barrels  were  filled  with 
berries,  after  which  the  remaining  space  was  filled  with 
water  and  the  barrel  closed.  In  this  condition  the  ber- 
ries kept  fresh  and  bright  for  months.  So  great  be- 
came the  quantities  purchased  at  one  time  by  William 
Patterson,  an  early  merchant  of  Clinton,  that  he  either 
could  not  find  market  for  them  or  could  not  procure 
wagons  in  which  to  ship  them  east,  that  300  bushels 
spoiled  on  his  hands. 

When  cranberry  picking  was  at  its  height,  many 
of  the  settlers  were  thus  engaged.  An  implement  of 
home  manufacture  was  used  in  picking  by  which  15  or 
20  bushels  could  be  picked  in  one  day  by  one  man. 
Whole  families  turned  out  during  the  cranberry  sea- 
son, and  the  marshes  swarmed  with  settlers,  some  of 
whom  came  many  miles  and  remained  days,  camping 
out,  making  a  little  money  and  having  much  fun  and 
a  good  time  generally. 

The  huckleberry  swamps  of  the  Reserve  have  been 
noted  for  their  profusion  and  the  size  of  their  berries. 
During  the  huckleberry  season  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren are  engaged  in  picking  these  luscious  berries.  In 
wet  swamps  men  frequently  had  to  wade  to  their  knees 
in  water.  The  huckleberry  bushes  grow  in  bunches, 
around  the  roots  of  which  great  hummocks  of  earth 
accumulate. 

144 


EARLY  OUTFITS 

Christian  Cackler,  Jr.,  says:  ''Our  furniture  proved 
no  inconvenience;  my  wife  had  a  bed,  I  had  an  ax;  I 
added  to  this  by  purchase  from  Zenas  Kent  of  three 
white  cups  and  saucers  costing  75  cents ;  three  knives 
and  forks  and  a  wooden  pail.  The  woman  who  lived 
with  us  gave  three  wooden  plates  and  a  kettle  to  cook 
in.  My  wife's  father  gave  us  a  table."  In  1870  his 
property  was  estimated  at  $30,000.  During  the  pioneer 
days  the  whole  fabric  rested  on  an  aristocracy  of  labor, 
and  none  were  so  high  or  so  low  that  he  did  not  min- 
ister to  his  necessities  with  his  own  hands.  The  fathers 
of  the  community  wrought  in  the  fields  with  their  sons 
and  were  not  less  strong  in  action  than  wise  in  counsel. 
Their  endurance  is  the  marvel  of  later  generations. 

Mrs.  Hickley  relates :  "Then  we  fully  realized  that 
poverty  is  the  mother  of  invention.  Our  tables,  book- 
cupboards  and  bedsteads  were  formed  from  long 
shingles  rived  out  by  our  own  hands ;  our  bedstead  had 
but  one  leg.  Our  book-cupboard  was  a  hollow  log,  with 
shingle  shelves.  A  large  clean  chip  for  a  plate,  with  a 
sharpened  stick  for  a  fork,  a  pocket  knife  for  a  carver. 
A  hard  shell  of  a  squash  for  a  sugar  bowl,  gourds  for 
dippers." 

Mrs.  Warner  said:  In  harvest  time  I  have  often 
assisted  in  gathering  and  securing  our  scanty  crops. 
Could  the  people  today  see  the  wild  state  of  garden  and 
fields    that    once    existed    they    would    be    surprised. 

145 


EARLY  OUTFITS 

Stumps  in  gardens  were  many  and  not  far  between.  In 
the  fields  logs,  stumps  and  log-heaps  were  numerous." 
N.  B.  Northrop  says:  **It  was  not  uncommon  in 
pioneer  times  to  find  a  young  man,  with  no  implements 
but  an  axe,  engaged  solitary  and  alone,  felling  the  for- 
est and  making  the  first  opening.  A  rude  hut,  hastily 
constructed,  was  his  dwelling,  a  piece  of  pork,  a  loaf 
of  corn  bread  and  a  few  potatoes  his  dainty  and  daily 
food  .  A  pronged  stick  was  his  fork,  a  split  slab  his 
table  ,and  a  few  leaves  and  a  quilt  his  bed.  There  he 
toiled,  ate  and  slept  soundly  for  many  weeks  without 
seeing  or  conversing  with  any  human  being.  At  night 
when  the  rushing  winds  ceased  to  make  the  forest 
vocal,  the  wolves  serenaded  him  with  their  wild 
music." 


THE  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  WOODS 

Trumbull  County  was  the  first  county  organized 

on  the  Reserve.     It  was  organized  July  10,  1800,  and 

included  within  its  county  limits  the  whole  Reserve. 

The  first  court  was  held  at  Warren,  its  county  seat,  on 

the  fourth  Monday  in  August,  1800.    The  Court  House 

w^as  the  vacant  space  betw^een  two  corn  cribs  on  the 

clearing  of  Capt.  Quimby.    The  early  settlements  in  the 

vicinity  of  Warren  commenced  for  the  most  part  in 

1798,  though  a  few  adventurers  it  is  said,  had  settled 

in  this  region  at  a  much  earlier  period.     Claims  have 

been  made  to  its  being  settled  as  early  as  1755.     This 

cannot  be  substantiated,  but  if  so,  they  were  merely 

adventurers  and  not  permanent  settlers.     To  this  class 

must  belong  that  mysterious  personage  known  to  the 

earliest  settlers  as  "the  old  man  of  the  woods".     No 

one  ever  knew  his  name,  although  he  was  called  by 

some,  Merryman,  and  he  was  a  merry,  jolly,  old  soul, 
whose  place  of  residence  in  that  vast  wilderness  which 

hemmed  them  about,  was  not  known.  No  one  ever 
knew  where  he  came  from  or  whither  he  went,  yet 
whenever  he  appeared  in  the  settlement  he  always 
appeared  to  be  the  happiest  man  alive,  especially  after 
exchanging  his  furs  for  powder  and  ball  for  his  gun, 
and  a  few  gallons  of  *'red  eye"  for  his  stomach.  He 
came  to  be  looked  upon  and  revered  by  the  early  settlers 
as  a  very  mysterious  person,  possessing  wonderful  and 
miraculous  powers.  He  claimed  to  be  able  to  cure  dis- 
eases of  whatever  nature,  and  no  matter  of  how  long 
standing.    He  made  no  charges  for  his  services  and  ad- 

147 


THE  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  WOODS 

ministered  a  decoction  of  certain  herbs  known  only  to 
himself.  He  loved  the  solitude  of  that  beautiful  forest 
land  and  hated  civilization  wherever  found. 

He  was  supposed  to  be  nearly,  if  not  quite,  seventy 
years  old,  and  at  all  times  refused  to  give  any  account 
of  his  life,  either  past  or  present.  What  became  of  him 
none  ever  knew.  They  missed  his  visits  and  that  was 
all.  Whether  he  died  alone,  in  some  obscure  cabin 
home,  away  from  the  ministering  hands  of  his  kind, 
or  whether  his  scalplock  adorned  some  distant  wigwam 
and  slowly  swung  back  and  forth  among  the  fragrant 
smoke,  none  ever  knew,  and  no  one  ever  will,  until  that 
great  day  when  all  shall  be  made  known. 

His  memory  was  cherished  for  many  years  after 
he  ceased  coming  and  he  was  always  spoken  of  as  the 
''old  man  of  the  woods." 


WILL  O'  WISP 

"Night  is  the  freeman's  country 

Wherein  my  soul  unshod, 
Her  thatch-cloak  loosed  about  her, 

Lays  bare  her  breast  to  God." 

— Wilkinson. 

During  the  early  setlement  of  the  Reserve,  the  low 
grounds  and  frequently  the  vicinity  of  early  burial 
grounds  were  noted  for  the  appearance  of  the  "ignis 
fatus".  By  the  superstitious  these  dancing  and  de- 
ceiving lights  were  supposed  to  be  the  spirits  of  the 
Indians  or  "spooks",  who  had  come  back  to  visit  their 
hunting  grounds  and  upbraid  the  pale  faces  for  their 
fraud  and  "double  tongues".  These  harmless  lights 
Cc*used  many  a  strong  man  to  tremble,  as  he  passed 
through  the  dense  and  dark  forest.  Indeed  it  is  said 
of  that  brave  hunter  and  noted  Indian  fighter,  Luther 
Nixon,  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  any  living  thing,  but 
it  is  told  of  him  that  he  would  never  go  out  of  doors 
after  night  time,  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  as  he 
was  afraid  of  the  "spooks"  of  the  Indians  he  had  killed. 
Most  localities  had  its  "haunted  houses,"  or  localities. 
Coventry  Township,  Summit  County,  at  one  time  seem- 
ed to  be  noted  for  its  superstitions.  An  old  settler, 
whose  vei*acity  was  never  questioned,  has  told  me  that 
one  night  while  coming  home  she  met  w^hat  seemed  to 
her  to  be  a  large  dog,  as  big  as  a  calf,  as  she  described 
it ;  it  passed  by  her  and  trotted  along  on  the  road  before 
her.  As  it  passed,  she  declared  that  she  looked  closely 
at  it,  and  she  says  it  had  no  head,  the  head  and  neck 

149 


rwt"*"" 


FCRT  D.  T.  WOLBACH 

Northfield  Township,  Summit  County 


WILL  O'  WISP 

being  severed  at  the  junction  of  the  body  and  neck. 
She  also  told  about  '*a  pot  of  gold".  This  pot  of  gold 
existed  in  the  **State  of  Coventry",  near  Falor's  cross- 
ing". It  was  said  of  this  small  fortune,  that  if  any  one 
spoke  while  taking  it  from  its  ancient  resting  place,  it 
would  go  tinkling  down  into  the  earth.  She  says  her 
two  brothers  resolved  to  get  the  gold ;  so  one  night  they 
started  out  after  it.  They  found  the  gold  which  was  in 
a  large  iron  vessel  with  an  iron  bail,  or  handle.  Obtain- 
ing a  rail  from  a  nearby  fence,  they  passed  it  through 
the  bail,  then  one  taking  one  end  of  the  rail  and  the 
other  man  the  other  end,  they  proceeded  for  home. 
The  young  man  in  front  stepped  in  a  hole  and  pitched 
forward,  pulling  the  rail  sharply  at  the  same  time.  This 
caused  a  splinter  to  run  into  the  hand  of  the  other  man, 
who  unthinkingly  said  '*D it." 

No  sooner  said  than  the  iron  vessel  left  the  rail, 
passed  into  the  ground,  and  they  could  hear  it  tinkling, 
tinkling  apparently  at  a  great  distance  down  in  the 
ground  as  it  grew  fainter  and  fainter  and  then — silence. 

The  writer  gives  these  simply  as  an  illustration  of 
the  earlier  superstitions  and  the  tales  told.  My  mother 
in  common  with  the  rest  of  her  race,  was  given  to 
superstitious  belief.  I  have  seen  her  heat  a  horseshoe 
and  put  it  in  a  churn  when  the  butter  would  not  come. 
Some  one  had  bewitched  it — of  course.  If  a  cow  was 
sick  some  one  had  bewitched  it.  I  have  seen  my  grand- 
father running  silver  bullets  to  shoot  witches  with. 
The  ''modus  oprandi"  was  this,  blaze  a  spot  on  a  tree, 
make  the  figure  of  a  man  on  the  blazed  spot,  load  a  rifle 
with  a  silver  bullet.    Then  take  careful  aim  at  the  fig- 

151 


WILL  O'  WISP 

Lire  and  fire.  If  you  placed  the  bullet  within  the  lines 
drawn  on  the  tree,  you  killed  the  witch  and  removed 
the  trouble.  I  tell  this  for  the  benefit  of  future  genera- 
tions to  show  them  what  foolish  great-great-grand- 
daddies  and  grandmammies  they  had  in  those  days. 

Knowledge  has  wiped  out  these  old  fancies  and 
superstitions.  Education  has  made  men  happier  be- 
cause they  can  rise  out  of  such  things  as  these. 

The  great  amount  of  rotten  or  doty  wood  in  the 

forest  in  those  days  caused  much  "fox-fire",  and  start- 
led many  belated  pedestrians. 

The  low  swampy  grounds  in  some  localities,  in  the 
night-time,  when  under  proper  atmospheric  conditions, 
were  frequently  covered  with  dim  dancing  lights,  low 
on  the  surface.  These  gaseous  bodies  by  the  ignorant 
were  supposed  to  be  *'spooks"  or  ''death  lights",  and 
many  a  timid  pioneer  heart  has  trembled  with  fear 
when  viewing  these  illusive  "Ignis  Fatons"  of  the 
pioneer  days. 


FIRST  POST  MASTERS  AND  EARLY 
POST  ROUTES 

MAIL  CARRIERS  ON  THE  RESERVE 
AND  ANECDOTES 

As  late  as  the  fall  of  1801,  there  was  not  a  post- 
office  or  mail  route  on  the  Western  Reserve.  The  near- 
est post-office  up  to  that  time  was  either  Pittsburg  or 
Meadville,  Pa. 

John  Diver,  of  Deerfield,  Portage  County,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  mail  contractors,  carriers,  and  stage 
drivers,  on  the  Reserve,  and  was  in  the  business  for 
more  than  forty  years.  Diver  had  the  first  contract  for 
carrying  the  mail  from  New  Lisbon  to  Mansfield,  by 
way  of  Canton  and  Wooster.  He  was  a  man  of  iron 
will,  unflinching  determination  and  seemingly  unlimit- 
ed resources. 

The  first  postmasters  on  the  Reserve  were  Lewis 
Day,  General  Wadsworth,  Judge  Pease  and  General 
Simon  Perkins,  notable  names  in  the  Nation's  History. 
Lewis  Day  was  postmaster  at  Deerfield ;  General  Wads- 
worth  at  Canfield;  Judge  Pease  at  Youngstown,  and 
General  Simon  Perkins  at  Warren. 

These  post-offices  were  organized  October  30,  1801, 
and  were  the  only  post-offices  for  some  two  years  in  the 
great  archaean  wilderness  now  known  as  Northern 
Ohio,  in  fact  including  one  half  the  counties  in  the 
present  limits  of  the  state. 

This  great  ark  of  governmental  civilization  then 
hovered  for  some  two  years  at  Warren,  when  it  crept 

153 


POST  MASTERS 

doubtfully  to  Ravenna,  Portage  County,  and  then,  two 
years  later,  by  Indian  Trails  watched  by  frightened 
deer,  or  along  whose  dim  pathways  ambled  the  lone 
bear,  it  was  extended  through  Hudson,  Summit  County," 
to  Cleveland. 

It  was  a  grim  sort  of  route  building  that  then  went 
on  for  years  through  the  wild-wood. 

The  first  mail  route  established  on  the  Western 
Reserve  entered  from  Pennsylvania,  by  the  way  of  Can- 
field,  Mahoning  County ;  Warren,  Trumbull  County ; 
and  Deerfield,  Portage  County.  The  latter  place  was 
the  end  of  the  route.  Four  years  later,  the  mail  route 
was  extended  through  to  Cleveland.  A  Mr.  Frity,  of 
Jefferson,  Ashtabula,  was  the  first  contractor  on  this 
route.  So  far,  the  writer  has  been  unable  to  obtain  fur- 
ther data  concerning  the  gentleman.  The  first  mail 
carrier  was  Eleazer  Gilson  of  Canfield.  These  post- 
oifices  received  their  first  mails  October  30,  1801. 

In  1805,  Cleveland,  Cuyahoga  County,  and  Hud- 
son, Summit  County,  w^ere  made  post-oflfices,  and  the 
route  was  extended  through  Hudson  and  Cleveland,  to 
Detroit. 

After  leaving  Cleveland,  the  route  followed  the  old 
Indian  Trail  along  the  lake  shore  to  Sandusky,  Maumee 
River  Basin  to  Detroit.  At  this  time  there  was  not  a 
house  between  Cleveland  and  Sandusky.  Returning, 
the  route  was  from  Detroit,  Sandusky,  Cleveland, 
Painesville,  Harpersfield  and  Jefferson  to  Warren.  A 
trip  was  made  once  in  two  weeks.  The  mail  day  was  a 
red  letter  day  at  these  villages,  and  the  population  was 
out  in  full  force  to  hear  the  news  from  the  outside 
world.    The  mail  carrier  on  his  route  was  looked  up  to 

154 


POST  MASTERS 

with  more  reverence  than  that  they  accorded  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 

When  the  route  ended  at  Ravenna,  three  days  were 
'consumed  in  making  the  trip  from  that  place  to  Pitts- 
burg. 

This  route  was  estabhshed  twenty-five  years  be- 
fore Akron  became  a  post-ofRce.  Nine  years  after  Ra- 
venna became  a  post-office  the  village  boys  who  were 
playing  around  the  new  court  house  discovered  a  fine 
buck  in  the  underbrush.  The  information  soon  spread, 
a  crowd  gathered,  when  all  hands  headed  by  David 
Greer,  surrounded  the  deer  and  captured  him  alive. 
In  this,  we  believe,  that  the  history  of  Ravenna  was 
unique ;  but  before  this,  Bela  Hubbard,  who  lived  in 
Randolph,  the  same  county,  had  been  exhibiting  in  the 
County  Seat  a  new  squash  he  had  succeeded  in  origin- 
ating in  the  new  soil  of  the  Western  Reserve,  from 
seeds  he  had  obtained  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State. 
The  seed  had  failed  to  produce  the  same  kind  of  squash 
from  which  they  had  been  taken,  but  had  apparently 
produced  a  new  variety,  which  soon  became  famous, 
and  is  now  known  all  over  the  country,  as  the  "Hubbard 
Squash".  This  most  desirable  variety  of  winter  squash 
is  therefore  a  native  of  the  Reserve. 

Among  the  noted  early  mail  carriers  and  stage 
drivers  of  the  Reserve,  was  Jabez  Gilbert,  the  friend 
and  colleague  of  General  Bierce.  Along  about  1827, 
these  two  friends  in  company  with  another,  discovered 
a  mysterious  cavern  in  the  gorge  near  Cuyahoga  Falls. 
This  cavern  consisted  of  at  least  two  large  rooms,  but 
owing  to  a  lack  of  light,  and  fearing  some  dangerous 
pitfall  in  the  dark,  they  adjourned  their  investigation 

155 


POST  MASTERS 

to  a  later  period.  This  cavern  entrance  was  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  gorge  and  consisted  of  but  a  small  round 
hole  sufficiently  large  to  admit  a  man,  but  small  enough 
to  be  easily  hidden  by  a  rock  or  large  log.  The  strange 
part  of  the  affair  is,  that  although  seventy-seven  years 
have  passed  since  this  discovery  by  Gen.  Bierce,  no 
man,  so  far  as  is  known,  has  ever  re-discovered  this 
mysterious  cavern  since. 

In  those  days  there  was  need  for  the  mail  carriers 
to  be  men  of  great  courage,  strong  of  resolution,  in- 
nured  to  fatigue  and  danger,  and  fertile  in  expedients, 
clear  and  cool-headed  at  all  times  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. 

Such  a  man  was  Jabez  Gilbert,  or  ''Moses  Jabe", 
as  he  was  more  familiarly  known,  from  the  fact  that 
his  ''cuss-word",  the  oath  that  he  always  swore  by,  was 
"By  Moses",  and  also  by  the  fact  that  there  were  two 
other  Jabes  among  the  Gilberts.  His  will  was  so  power- 
ful, his  determination  so  strong,  his  resources  so  un- 
limited, that  the  man  always  accomplished  everything 
he  undertook.  In  his  earlier  life  he  was  known  as  "the 
bridge-builder".  He  constructed  all  the  bridges,  or  near- 
ly all  the  bridges  in  Portage  County,  and  many  within 
the  present  limits  of  Summit.  He  was  also  known  as  a 
contractor  for  large,  heavy  or  difficult  transportation. 
As  a  teamster  for  difficult  and  uncertain  work,  his  fame 
spread  over  several  states.  Over  a  rough  and  broken 
country  across  unbridged  streams,  along  newly  de- 
veloped roadways,  filled  with  stumps,  stones,  ruts, 
roots,  brambles,  bushes  and  sink-holes,  he  hauled  all 
the  steam  boilers  and  heavy  machinery  designed  for 
steamxboat  building  on  the  lake  at  the  mouth  of  the 

156 


POST  MASTERS 

Cuyahoga.  So  stupendous  was  this  undertaking,  so 
heavy  and  immense  the  iron  structural  work,  so  great 
the  distance  through  an  unsettled  country,  and  so  poor 
and  rough  and  uncertain  the  newly  built  roads  of  the 
Reserve,  that  no  one  else  could  be  found  with  courage 
enough,  or  resolution  enough  to  haul  these  great  loads 
of  iron  from  the  mills  in  Pittsburg  to  the  boat  yards  in 
Cleveland.  To  attempt  to  haul  over  such  roads  as  then 
existed,  by  ox-team,  one  of  those  monster  boilers  was 
no  child's  play,  and  required  a  man  in  the  fullest  sense 
of  the  term.  A  man  that  no  misfortune  or  ill  luck  could 
stop,  or  hinder,  or  discourage.  There  was  no  obstacle, 
however  forbidding,  ever  prevented  him  from  keeping 
to  the  letter  and  intent  his  contracts.  Such  was  the 
stuff  of  which  the  early  mail  carriers  and  stage  drivers 
were  made  of  in  the  early  days  of  the  Reserve.  Brave, 
resolute,  honest,  sturdy  and  obliging  fellows,  every  one 
of  them.  The  difficulties  they  encountered,  the  dan- 
gers they  braved,  the  perils  of  uncertain  roadways,  the 
long  distances  traveled,  the  immensities  of  the  forests, 
the  loneliness  of  the  solitudes,  that  nameless  feeling  of 
a  God  in  nature,  all  had  a  tendency  to  strengthen  their 
character  and  broaden  their  views  of  life.  They  never 
betrayed  a  trust,  neglected  a  duty,  nor  proved  untrue. 

In  the  earliest  days  of  his  mail  carrying,  when 
guided  by  blazed  trees,  or  else  following  Indian  Trails 
when  the  savages  were  hostile,  he  frequently  swam 
swollen  streams,  or  shouldering  his  mail,  left  behind 
a  crippled  or  worn  out  steed  to  wander  at  will,  while  he 
made  his  way  swiftly  and  surely  on  foot,  to  the  term- 
inus of  his  route. 

157 


POST  MASTERS 

Nothing  could  stop  him  from  delivering  his  mails 
but  death.  In  cases  of  "break-downs",  or  accidents,  or 
floods,  with  bridges  gone,  he  would  take  his  mail  upon 
his  back,  and  with  ax  in  hand  he  would  swim  the 
swollen  streams,  and  **go  through  or  die",  **By  Moses" ! 
as  he  was  wont  to  say.  His  only  object  was  the  prompt 
deliver}^  and  in  this  he  counted  neither  life,  nor  cost, 
nor  effort. 

With  his  passengers  the  early  stage  driver  was 
always  self-sacrificing  for  their  safety  and  solicitous 
for  their  comfort.  He  was  ever  obliging,  jolly  and  com- 
municative. He  was  full  of  stories  of  the  people  and 
the  country. 

Like  the  Indian,  ''his  footsteps  fast  faded  to  the 
untrodden  west."  His  last  stand  was  on  the  Rockies, 
the  backbone  of  the  continent,  but  the  railroads  have 
destroyed  his  business ;  and  his  usefulness  with  all  its 
strange  characteristics  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  as  a 
type  he  has  faded  away. 

For  years  Gilbert  carried  the  mails  from  Pittsburg 
and  Cleveland  in  a  two  horse  coach,  making  one  trip  a 
week.  Then  the  contract  was  raised  to  twice  a  week  in 
a  four  horse  coach ;  later,  to  three  times  per  week,  and 
finally,  to  a  daily  line  between  these  two  points.  These 
coaches  passed  through  Trumbull,  Mahoning,  Portage 
and  Summit  Counties.  About  this  time  John  Stokes 
and  Horace  Daniels  were  added  to  Gilbert's  force. 
Soon  were  to  be  seen  stage  coaches  running  from  Cleve- 
land to  Canton,  by  the  way  of  Hudson  and  Middlebury ; 
a  line  from  Ravenna  to  Middlebury  and  a  line  from 
Medina  via  Old  Portage  to  Warren ;  another  line  from 
Beaver,  Pa.,  passing  through  Stow  and  Hudson;  an- 

138 


POST  MASTERS 

other  from  Fairport  to  Canton  via  Painesville,  Chardon, 
Ravenna  and  Middlebury,  A  line  ran  from  Mansfield 
to  Cleveland ;  another  from  Wooster  to  Cleveland,  both 
passing  through  Medina.  Later  a  line  was  run  from 
Copley  through  the  townships  north,  to  Cleveland,  and 
one  from  Sharon,  also  passing  through  northernly 
townships  to  Cleveland. 

The  writer  himself,  was  an  early  mail  carrier  on 
the  Reserve ;  running  a  coach  into  Cleveland,  and  to 
within  six  and  one-half  miles  of  the  southern  line  of  the 
Reserve.  He  can  fully  appreciate  the  governing  im- 
pulses and  efforts  of  these  earlier  carriers  in  trying  to 
get  the  mail  through  on  time.  In  going  twenty  miles 
through  a  very  heavy  snowfall  we  broke  down  seven 
times,  and  reached  Cleveland  twelve  hours  late.  In 
fording  the  river  before  reaching  the  city,  we  w^ere  once 
swept  down  the  stream  with  a  team  and  coach  load  of 
passengers. 

In  going  up  a  long,  steep  hill,  the  bolts  holding  the 
double  tree  broke.  The  team  continued  on  its  way  up, 
while  the  coach  started  on  its  way  down  the  hill.  At 
the  foot,  was  a  bridge  without  a  guard-rail,  and  the 
coach  ran  off  the  side  of  this,  falling  about  fifteen  feet 
into  a  rocky  gulley.  The  coach  was  reduced  to  kindling 
wood,  but  strange  to  say,  not  a  passenger  was  injured. 
Procuring  a  lumber  wagon  without  a  lock  the  journey 
was  continued.  The  passengers  were  good-natured  and 
a  jolly  time  was  had  the  balance  of  the  way. 

The  mail  w^as  delivered  on  schedule  time,  although 
at  every  steep  hill,  and  there  were  many  of  them,  the 
driver  would  have  to  get  out    and    run    a    fence    rail 

159 


POST  MASTERS 

through  the  spokes  of  the  hind  wheels  in  order  to  lock 
them. 

At  times  the  roads  became  so  fearfully  bad  that  a 
coach  could  not  be  pulled  through.  Then  the  mail 
would  be  carried  on  horseback.  Once  while  crossing  a 
bridge  in  this  manner,  the  bridge  which  was  afloat  on 
account  of  high  water,  parted  in  the  center ;  the  weight 
of  the  horse  and  rider  raising  the  structure  both  before 
and  behind,  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  V,  in  the  apex  of 
which  were  both  rider  and  horse.  The  poor  horse  went 
through  the  bridge  to  the  bottom  of  the  stream.  The 
rider  jumped  off  on  a  floating  plank  and  flung  the  mail 
to  the  shore;  then  jumping  from  plank  to  plank  encour- 
aged the  horse  to  make  an  effort  to  clear  himself  from 
the  timbers.  i\fter  a  great  effort  the  horse  was 
brought  to  the  edge  of  the  stream,  but  becoming  dis- 
couraged, he  lay  down  in  the  stream,  dropping  his  head 
under  the  rushing  water,  with  undoubted  suicidal  in- 
tent. The  water  was  not  deep  here,  but  the  horse  was 
bound  to  drown.  Standing  in  the  stream  up  to  his 
waist  in  water,  the  rider  held  the  horse's  head  up  out 
of  the  water  and  shouted  for  help.  It  seemed  a  half  a 
day,  but  was  probably  but  a  few  minutes,  when  a  man 
came  along  and  by  the  use  of  fence  rails,  much  yelling 
and  urging,  the  horse  was  gotten  out  on  terra  firma  and 
thus  saved  from  a  watery  grave  while  in  the  service  of 
Uncle  Sam.  The  writer  was  once  robbed  and  had  many 
thrilling  escapes  from  being  held  up. 

A.  G.  Cherry  was  one  of  the  most  successful  and 
patient  of  the  Reserve  Mail  Contractors.  Difficulties 
that  would  frighten  an  ordinary  man  did  not  seem  to 
affect  him  in  the  least. 

160 


POST  MASTERS 

In  order  to  show  the  difficulties  which  even  the 
Postmaster  General  of  the  United  States  labored  under 
in  those  days,  we  publish  the  following  letter: 

Washington,  D.  C. 
General   Post   Office, 
April  14,  1806. 

Sir: — Andrew  Marshall,  who  contracted  to  carry 
the  mail  between  Wheeling  and  Chillicothe,  has  failed 
to  carry  it  according  to  contract,  and  it  is  probable  is 
not  competent  to  the  undertaking.  It  has  therefore  be- 
come necessary  to  employ  some  person  in  his  stead.  I 
wish  you  to  make  inquiry  and  inform  me  if  you  find  any 
person  willing  to  undertake  to  carry  the  mail  in  stages ; 
with  the  names  and  prices  which  they  demand.  In  the 
meantime,  I  wish  you  to  have  the  mail  carried  on  horse- 
back on  that  route,  until  it  is  so  improved  that  stages 
can  pass  upon  it  with  proper  expedition.  When  on  your 
return  you  will  call  upon  the  several  supervisors  of  the 
roads  and  endeavor  to  persuade  them  to  improve  it.  A 
line  of  stages  would  be  of  great  advantage  in  carrying 
the  mail  and  afford  considerable  accommodation  to  the 
inhabitants  and  I  hope  to  see  one  erected  as  soon  as  the 
road  is  in  proper  order. 

I  do  not  wish  you  to  set  your  stages  in  motion  be- 
tween Chillicothe  and  Frankfort  until  they  are  in  oper- 
ation between  Wheeling  and  Chillicothe,  but  as  soon  as 
that  is  the  case  yours  must  be  in  motion.  And  it  must 
be  understood  that  if  the  estabhshment  of  a  line  of 
stages  fails,  the  contract  price  must  be  reduced  to  a  fair 
equivalent  on  the  whole  route  from  Wheeling  to  Frank- 
fort, Ky.,  for  horse  mails. 

Your  sincere  friend, 

GID'N  GRANGER, 
Post  Master  General. 

161 


POST  MASTERS 

Seth  Pease,  the  head  surveyor  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve land  in  1796,  was  brother-in-law  to  Granger,  and 
was  by  him  appointed  as  Assistant  Post  Master  Gen- 
eral of  the  United  States. 

It  is  not  known  when  Middlebury  became  a  post- 
office,  but  it  was  probably  in  1817. 

Akron  proper,  became  a  post  office  in  1826,  its 
first  postmaster  being  Harvey  H.  Johnson.  Its  first 
mail  carrier,  Hiram  J.  Spicer. 


INDIANS  OF  THE  CUYAHOGA  VALLEY 
AND  PORTAGE  LAKES 

The  Indians  of  the  Reserve,  as  a  class,  were 
friendly,  peaceful,  honest  and  helpful  to  the  whites. 
They  all  loved  the  "firewater"  of  the  white  man,  with 
two  notable  exceptions,  that  of  Seneca  and  Ogontz,  two 
chiefs  of  the  Ottawas.  When  under  the  influence  of 
drink,  the  Indians  became  vicious,  uncertain  of  temper 
and  unreliable.  They  frequently  sought  to  terrorize, 
especially  if  they  could  catch  women  or  children  alone, 
in  isolated  cabins.  Our  narrative  will  deal,  more  nat- 
urally, with  Indians  of  the  latter  class,  but  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  Indians  did  not  approve  of  the  actions  of 
these  ''drunken  bucks". 

Half  a  mile  north  of  the  Village  of  Boston,  in  the 
Cuyahoga  Valley,  was  'Tonty's  Camp".  It  was  sit- 
uated on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  It  w^as  a  noted 
place  in  the  early  times  and  its  site  was  given  on  many 
early  maps  and  was  generally  known  throughout  the 
entire  Northwest. 

Half  a  mile  south  of  this  camp,  on  the  same  side  of 
the  river,  was  the  Ottoway  Indian  Village  under  Chief 
Seneca. 

Both  camps  were  inhabited  when  the  whites  came 
to  this  country. 

When  white  men  first  came  to  the  Cuyahoga  Val- 
ley, a  tract  of  land  comprising  some  thirty  or  forty 
acres,  lying  in  the  valley  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  a 
short  distance  below  the  center,  was  cleared  of  trees, 

163 


A  QUIET  STRETCH  ON  THE  CUYAHOGA 


INDIANS 

and  was  under  cultivation.  It  was  an  Indian  corn-field, 
and  it  is  stated  that  in  about  1804,  settlers  living  in 
liudson  went  to  this  field  and  purchased  corn  of  the 
natives.  How  long  it  had  been  under  cultivation  is  not 
known.  The  Indians  also  had  their  cornfields  in  the 
valley  of  the  Cuyahoga  below  where  Cuyahoga  Falls 
now  stands.  One  of  the  Indian  dances  was  described 
by  Christian  Cackler,  who  was  an  eye  witness:  "They 
were  of  the  Ottaway  tribe,  some  fifteen  or  eighteen  of 
them.  They  were  provided  with  a  deerskin  suit,  like  a 
little  boy's,  all  whole,  but  open  before,  and  supplied 
with  openings  for  the  legs  and  arms.  When  put  on  it 
was  tied  in  front.  It  was  ornamented  around  the  legs 
and  arms  with  fringe  some  three  inches  in  length,  to 
which  was  attached  a  variety  of  animal  claws,  such  as 
those  of  the  turkey,  coon,  deer,  bear,  etc.  One  would 
put  on  this  suit,  and  jump,  hop  and  kick  about  in  a  sort 
of  ''Highland  Fling",  while  two  others  furnished  the  in- 
spiration by  patting  and  humming.  The  success  of  the 
performer  seemed  to  depend  upon  his  ability  to  get  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  clatter  out  of  the  claws  at- 
tached to  the  fringe.  When  tired,  he  would  doff"  the 
garment,  take  a  drink  of  whiskey  provided,  and  give 
place  to  another.  In  this  way  each  would  try  his  agility 
and  gradually  get  beastly  drunk.  This  they  kept  up 
for  two  days.  Before  the  proceedings  began  they  had 
placed  all  their  weapons  in  the  hands  of  their  squaws, 
who  were  quiet  spectators  of  the  scene.    At  the  end  of 

two  days  all  were  drunk." 

Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  1812  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Indians  of  the  Western  Reserve  left,  as  it 
was  supposed,  to  join  the  British.     After  the  war  five 

165 


INDIANS 

only  returned  to  the  Cuyahoga.  These  formed  a  camp 
in  the  big  bend  of  that  stream  where  Capt.  Mills  dis- 
covered them.  After  dark  his  Indian  hunters  fired  up- 
on them,  killing  four ;  the  other  made  his  escape. 

A  little  later  a  few  returned  to  Richfield  but  soon 
took  up  their  march  toward  the  setting  sun ;  1817  saw 
the  last  of  them  to  leave,  and  the  Western  Reserve 
from  thence  was  to  know  no  more  the  tread  of  the  Red 
Man  of  the  forest. 

Civilization  swept  on,  a  mighty  power,  that  naught 
could  hinder  or  stay. 

The  Indians  of  the  Reserve  buried  their  dead  in 
different  ways.  All  were  interred ;  some  were  buried  in 
stone  cists ;  some  were  lain  in  a  horizontal  position, 
some  in  a  sitting  posture. 

The  wife  of  Bigson,  the  Seneca  Chief,  was  a  very 
dignified  but  a  large  stout  woman.  When  she  died  the 
Indians,  at  a  great  expense,  procured  for  her  a  new 
calico  gown  in  which  she  was  wrapped.  Then  they 
actually  covered  her  arms  and  ankles  with  silver  beads 
and  brooches.  She  was  buried  in  a  coffin  made  of  bark, 
being  first  rolled  up  in  a  large  blanket.  The  grave  was 
dug  only  about  three  feet  deep  and  was  so  arranged 
that  a  hole  remained,  out  of  which  the  departed  could 
see  the  summons  to  arise  and  go  out  to  that  Indian 
heaven,  the  happy  hunting  grounds  of  the  Great  Spirit. 

For  some  reason  the  savages  did  not  take  kindly 
to  the  immediate  vicinitj^  of  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Great  Lakes  as  a  location  for  their  villages.  For  reas- 
ons unknown,  they  sought  sites  far  in  the  interior  for 
this  purpose.    The  most  beloved  spot  for  them  was  on 

166 


INDIANS 

the  Cuyahoga,  its  confluents,  or  the  nearby  fresh  water 
lakes. 

The  Indians  of  the  Reserve  were  intensely  migra- 
tory in  their  tastes  and  character.  They  were  here 
today ;  tomorrow  they  would  be  found  down  on  the  Tus- 
carawas ;  in  a  week  amongst  the  Indian  towns  of  the 
Muskingum  or  Miami ;  later,  perhaps,  floating  down  the 
Ohio,  or  roaming  in  the  vicinity  of  Sandusky  or  Detroit. 

In  every  historical  occurrence  within  the  state,  in 
Colonial  or  pre-Colonial  times,  we  catch  glimpses  of 
some  of  the  chiefs  or  braves  of  this  strangely  restless 
people.  This  locality  was  undoubtedly  their  fastness. 
The  Cuyahoga  villages  furnished  a  well-hidden  and  se- 
cure retreat,  far  from  the  trails  white  borderers  were 
wont  to  travel.  Here  were  their  homes,  their  families 
and  their  cornfields.  Within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles 
were  clustered  one  hundred  fresh  water  lakes,  varying 
in  size  from  the  mere  pond  to  sheets  of  water  stretch- 
ing miles  in  extent  and  filled  with  fish  of  most  savory 
qualities.  These  lakes  were  frequented  by  wild  aquatic 
fowl  of  many  varieties.  These  shores,  these  forests 
abounded  with  a  greater  variety  of  game  and  in  greater 
numbers  than  were  to  be  found  in  any  other  section  of 
the  Ohio  valley,  outside  of  the  great  Blue  Lick  Sulphur 
Springs  of  Kentucky. 

The  Indians  of  the  Reserve  consisted  of  Senecas, 
Ottawas,  Onondagas,  Oneidas,  Cayiugas,  Chippewas, 
Mingoes,  Massangas,  Shawnees  and  Delawares. 

As  early  as  1760  the  Delawares  held  white  prison- 
ers in  their  Indian  village  on  the  Great  Bend  of  the 
Cuyahoga.  The  exact  date  of  their  arrival  is  shrouded 
in  mystery. 

167 


INDIANS 

Within  fifty-five  miles  south  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Cuyahoga  river,  three  great  Indian  Trails  crossed 
the  territory  of  what  is  now  Northern  Ohio. 

The  southern  trail  was  the  Great  Fort  Mcintosh, 
Muskingum  and  Sandusky  War  Trail,  which  crossed 
the  Muskingum  near  the  junction  of  the  Tuscarawas 
and  the  Big  Sandy  river. 

The  Central  Trail  ran  from  Old  Portage  to  Fort 
Mcintosh  by  way  of  Big  Falls  to  Fish  Creek,  where  it 
divided,  the  northern  branch  running  to  the  lower  Cuy- 
ahoga towns,  and  from  thence  to  its  mouth.  Continu- 
ing eastward  from  Fish  Creek  it  crossed  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Cuyahoga  at  Standing  Stone;  thence 
down  the  valley  of  Breakneck  Creek,  crossing  the  Sum- 
mit near  Ravenna ;  it  passed  out  of  that  city  on  its 
southeast  corner,  and  on  through  Edinburg,  crossing 
Silver  Creek  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  the  center  road ; 
thence  running  through  the  northern  part  of  Palmyra, 
it  crossed  through  Milton,  on  through  the  Salt  Springs 
of  Trumbull,  crossing  the  Mahoning  River  three  miles 
above  Youngstown ;  thence  down  the  northern  bank  of 
that  stream  to  Fort  Mcintosh  (Beaver)  ;  thence  on  to 
Pittsburg. 

The  Northern  Trail  followed  the  Lake  Shore  from 
Buffalo  Creek  (Buffalo),  via  Presque  Isle  (Erie),  cross- 
ing the  Cuyahoga  at  its  mouth ;  thence  following  the 
shore  line  to  Sandusky  Bay,  where  all  three  of  the 
trails  joined ;  thence  on  by  the  way  of  the  Miami  of  the 
lakes,  now  Maumee ;  and  from  thence  to  Detroit. 

These  were  great  National  highways  long  before  the 
hardy,  daring  borderers  climbed  the  summits  of  the 

168 


INDIANS 

distant  mountains,  and  ventured  west  of  the  rugged 
Alleghenies. 

Over  these  great  aboriginal  roadways  traveled 
ancient  nations  of  red-men  on  their  wa}^  to  war,  or  on 
their  peaceful  migrations  from  the  east  to  the  west. 

Over  these  centuries  past,  many  men  of  ancient 
American  Nations,  came  on  their  way  east,  to  some 
sudden  Indian  foray  on  the  outlying  settlements  of  ad- 
venturous whites  who  had  dared  to  push  their  way 
even  beyond  the  Susquehanna  River. 

From  1760  to  1790  the  Indians  occupied  numerous 

villages  on  the  Cuyahoga  and  its  confluent  streams. 
Every  little  stream  entering  the  Cuyahoga  had  its 
villages,  consisting  of  from  two  or  three  to  half,  or  a 
dozen  wigwams.  Some  even  reaching  from  fifty  to  a 
hundred  wigw^ams.  North  Akron  was  occupied  by  "Old 
Cuyahoga  Town".  The  Big  Falls  had  two.  Silver  Lake 
two,  whose  combined  population  must  at  one  time  have 
numbered  one  thousand  souls.  The  population  of  the 
Silver  Lake  villages  alone,  has  been  stated  at  five  hun- 
dred. The  Cuyahoga  was  dotted  with  its  villages. 
Chief  Wam-te-kek  had  his  Delaware  village  on  Turkey 
Foot  Lake ;  Chief  Capt.  Pipe,  King  of  New  Portage  the 
most  blood-thirsty  of  all,  had  his  village  in  Coventry, 
near  where  Louis  Young's  road  house  now  is,  while  at 
''Apple  Orchard"  Chief  Beaver  Hat  held  full  sway.  A 
band  of  Chippewas  had  their  village  on  Chippewa  Lake, 
in  Medina  County.  A  Seneca  Village  was  located  on 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Cuyahoga,  in  Streetsboro  Town- 
ship. Its  Chief  was  Bigson.  His  sons  were  John  Amur 
and  John  Mohawk.  He,  his  two  sons  and  his  three 
sons-in-law,  George  Wilson,  Nickshaw  and  Wobmung, 

169 


INDIANS 

were  historical  characters  on  the  border.  At  the  mouth 
of  the  Little  Cuyahoga,  was  an  Ottowa  Village  under 
Chief  Stignish.  In  Windham  Township,  Portage  Coun- 
ty, was  an  Indian  village,  at  which  place  was  an  old 
apple  orchard  and  cleared  spaces  for  cornfields.  An 
Indian  trail  ran  across  the  northern  border  of  this  town- 
ship, probably  running  to  the  Seneca  village  on  the 
Cuyahoga,  in  Streetsboro  township.  Along  this  trail 
settlers  discovered  traces  of  many  villages.  In  the 
northeastern  part  of  this  county  a  band  of  Cayugas, 
under  Big  Cayuga,  was  wont  to  roam.  After  Captain 
Delawn  Mills  killed  Chief  Big  Cayuga,  his  nephew, 
"Snipnose"  Cayuga  succeeded  to  the  Chieftainship.  On 
the  line  of  the  great  Ft.  Mcintosh  and  Sandusky  Trail 
in  Palmyra  township,  was  an  Onondaga  Village.  Many 
of  those  Indians  had  both  their  summer  and  winter  vil- 
lages situated  in  different  localities.  Some  had  sev- 
eral villages  among  which  they  divided  their  time,  add- 
ing variety  to  a  rather  monotonous  existence. 

The  Indians  frequently  established  winter  villages 
on  Wintergreen  Point,  near  the  Falls  of  Elyria. 

When  the  surveying  party  of  Moses  Cleveland 
came  in  1796,  they  found  a  permanent  Indian  Village 
of  some  thirty  well  built  cabins  on  Conneaut  Creek. 
These  were  a  tribe  of  Massauga  Indians  under  Chief 
Piqua,  a  very  noble  looking  and  somewhat  notable 
Chieftain  in  many  respects.  The  tribe  claimed  to  have 
inhabited  their  village  from  a  time  beyond  the  memory 
of  their  eldest  son. 

Bath  had  a  Mingo  village  that  acknowledged 
Logan  for  Chief.  Northampton  and  Boston  had  their 
Ottawa  villages,  Chief  Stigwanish,  or  Seneca,  as  he  was 

170 


•% 


BLACK  HAWK 


INDIANS 

better  known  to  the  whites,  had  his  home  at  the  latter 
village,  while  a  half  mile  to  the  northwest  was  a  vil- 
lage known  as  'Tonty's  Camp". 

While  Logan  and  Pontiac  are  claimed  as  Reserve 
Indians  by  reason  of  their  villages  on  the  Cuyahoga,  yet 
it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  prominent  chiefs  had  two  or 
more,  sometimes  a  half  dozen  villages  situated  on  dif- 
ferent rivers,  and  in  different  parts  of  the  State  at  the 
same  time.  The  Indians  were  migratory  in  their  char- 
acter; not  only  did  they  possess  different  villages  at 
the  same  time,  but  they  were  apt  to  change  their  vil- 
lages as  the  needs  of  the  chase  or  of  war  might  dictate. 

Yesterday  their  village  might  have  existed  on  the 
Cuyahoga,  today  on  the  Tuscarawas,  tomorrow  on  the 
Muskingum.  The  conflicting  reports  as  to  the  resi- 
dence of  a  chief  who  possessed  so  many  homes  and  vil- 
lages, both  past  and  present,  has  always  been  an  ex- 
asperation to  the  antiquarian  historian,  and  the  subject 
of  much  argument  among  writers  and  a  puzzle  to  their 
readers. 

Wam-te-kek,  Beaver  Hat,  Seneca,  and  Pontiac  fell 
by  the  hands  of  the  white.  Logan  was  murdered  by 
tribesmen,  but  Capt.  Pipe,  the  ferocious  and  inveterate 
enemy  to  the  whites,  died  a  natural  death,  a  centen- 
arian and  the  victim  of  remorse. 

Historians  have  said,  and  every  succeeding  writer 
has  reiterated  the  error,  that,  of  the  Delaware  chiefs, 
White  Eyes  Netawatwees,  Big  Cat,  Capt.  John,  Kill- 
buck  and  others,  failed  to  take  up  arms  for  the  British 
during  the  War  of  1812,  but  that  the  Chiefs  of  the 
Wolfclan,  Armstrong,  Newalike  and  Capt.  Pipe  with- 
drew towards  Lake  Erie,  and  joined  the  British  forces. 

172 


INDIANS 

Chief  Newalike  may  have  done  this,  but  Armstrong  did 
not,  until  after  his  village  upon  the  clear  fork  of  the 
Mohican  had  been  burned  by  the  militia.  It  is  certain 
that  Capt.  Pipe  did  not  as  will  be  seen  afterwards. 

Capt.  Pipe's  voice  during  the  war  was  first,  last 
and  always  for  peace.  His  village  was  at  that  time  in 
Ashland  County,  and  many  Ashland  county  citizens 
have  testified  to  that  fact.  But  more  than  this  Capt. 
Pipe  was  too  old  during  the  war  to  have  dug  up  the 
hatchet.  He  was  born  w^hile  the  eighteenth  century 
was  still  young.  Over  fifty  years  before  this,  while 
Capt.  Pipe  was  then  a  middle  aged  man,  he  had  been  a 
prisoner  at  Fort  Pitt.  In  1814,  Capt.  Pipe  must  have 
been  a  centenarian,  too  old,  surely,  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  race  he  had  always  fought.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  we  have  the  testimony  of  unimpeach- 
able witnesses  to  prove  that  his  form  was  then  bent 
with  age,  his  head  silvered  with  his  lonely  sorrow,  and 
his  face  furrowed  with  the  lines  of  remorse.  Elsewhere 
in  this  volume  will  appear  Capt.  Pipe's  reasons  in  his 
own  language. 

The  Ottawas,  Senecas,  Mingoes  and  a  few  restless, 
renegade  Delaw^ares  of  the  Western  Reserve,  were 
active  in  the  war  in  the  cause  of  the  British.  Among 
these  were  many  from  Portage-Summit  territory. 

The  Summit  County  History  says:  'The  Dela- 
ware's Villages  in  Summit  County  about  the  time  of 
Lord  Dunmore's  War,  were  well  populated."  It  also 
says  that  Simon  Girty,  who  was  a  Delaware,  and  his 
brother  George,  who  was  a  Seneca  by  adoption,  were 
often  at  these  Indian  Villages  in  the  Cuyahoga  Valley. 

173 


INDIANS 

P'rom  1760  to  1794,  the  warriors  of  the  Indian  Vil- 
lages on  the  Reserve  were  actively  engaged  in  desult- 
ory warfare  with  the  encroaching  settlements  east  and 
south  of  the  Ohio  River.  Numerous  small  parties  pass- 
ed along  the  great  trial  and  ravaged  the  border 
settlements  of  Pennsylvania.  Some  of  these  parties, 
especially  those  of  Capt.  Pipe's  Village,  after  commit- 
ting their  depredations,  returned  by  the  great  southern 
trail  which,  tho  longer  by  thirty  miles,  could  be  made 
b}'  water,  effectually  throwing  their  pursuers,  if  any, 
off  the  trail  and  diverting  suspicions  from  their  villages. 

The  Indian  hunters  of  the  border  were  puzzled  to 
account  for  the  rapidity  in  which  blows  were  struck 
and  in  the  shortness  of  time  in  which  their  savage  ag- 
gressors disappeared.  Suspicions  began  to  be  harbored 
against  the  Christian  Moravian  Indians  on  the  Tuscar- 
awas, or  to  the  tribes  on  the  upper  Muskingum.  With 
an  obtuseness  hard  to  understand  in  this  day,  they 
looked  in  every  direction  except  the  one  from  which 
the  blows  had  fallen.  The  Indian  villages  began  to  be 
depopulated  in  the  beginning  of  Tecumseh's  conspiracy  ; 
manv  were  abandoned  after  the  battle  of  Fallen  Tim- 
bers.  For  some  unaccountable  reasons  the  Indians  all 
left  the  Cuyahoga  Valley  before  the  close  of  the  War 
of  1812.  Some  no  doubt  left  for  fear  of  the  whites, 
some  to  join  the  British,  some  to  become  the  hangers- 
on  of  camps.  But  few  ever  returned  after  the  war  and 
those  few  did  not  stay. 

It  is  undoubtedly  a  fact,  proven  by  the  careful  ob- 
servation of  years,  from  a  mass  of  testimonj^  slight  in 
its  individuality  but  taken  as  a  whole,  conclusive  in  the 
extreme,  that  a  conspiracy  existed  among  the  tribes  of 

174 


INDIANS 

Northern  Ohio,  that  in  case  the  British  won  a  victory 
on  Lake  Erie,  the  Indian  tribes  were  to  rise  and  assist- 
ed bj"  Proctor  and  his  Indian  alhes,  were  to  sweep  the 
entire  Northern  Ohio  from  Sandusky  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania line  with  fire  and  sword.  The  able-bodied  men 
of  the  Western  Reserve  were  in  the  ranks,  defending 
a  harrassed  border,  the  women  and  children,  the  aged 
and  crippled  were  at  home.  Resistance  would  have  been 
useless.  Smoking  ruins  and  mutilated  corpses  would 
have  marked  the  course  of  3000  devils  let  loose  upon  a 
defenseless  people.  The  whole  world  would  have  shud- 
dered and  history  would  have  been  turned  back  another 
century. 

It  is  well  for  the  Reserve,  well  for  our  country, 
well  for  humanity,  that  this  heart-rending  page  of  a 
blood}^  history  was  averted. 

Out  of  the  death  comes  life,  and  from  out  the  rent 
and  torn  and  sinking  Lawrence  came  the  seeds  of  life 
and  hope  and  victory. 

The  British  Lion  cowered  before  the  American 
Eagle,  and  joy  and  peace  and  thankfulness  settled  over 
the  brooding,  trembling,  troubled  border  land  of  the 
Western  Reserve. 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

The  Great  Indian  Trail  from  Fort  Mcintosh  went 
to  Sandusky  and  Detroit,  commenced  at  Beaver,  Penn- 
sylvania and  ran  up  the  east  bank  of  the  Beaver  river 
to  just  above  its  junction  with  the  Mahoning.  The 
trail  then  followed  the  north  bank  of  the  Mahoning 
until  about  three  miles  above  the  present  site  of 
Youngstown,  when  it  crossed  the  river,  thence,  passing 
through  the  salt  springs  of  the  Mahoning,  and  on 
through  Milton  in  Mahoning  County,  through  the  north- 
ern part  of  Palmyra ;  thence  through  Edinburg ;  after 
crossing  Silver  Creek,  one  and  one  half  miles  north  of 
the  center  road ;  thence  through  Ravenna,  on  down  the 
Break  Neck  Creek  Valley,  across  the  stream  the  Stand- 
ing Stone ;  crossing  the  Cuyahoga  here  it  ran  westward- 
ly  along  the  north  side  of  the  river  until  it  entered  Stow^ 
township.  Here  the  trail  divided ;  one  branch  led  north- 
westerly through  Stow,  Northampton  and  Boston, 
where  it  crossed  the  Cuyahoga  and  continued  dowm  the 
west  bank  of  the  Cuyahoga  to  its  mouth. 

At  Fish  Creek,  in  Stow  township,  where  the  trail 
divided,  the  southern  branch  ran  south  westwardly  to 
Cuyahoga  Falls,  the  falls  of  Hoppocon,  and  on  down  to 
Old  Portage,  where  it  connected  with  navigation  for 
the  Lake,  and  with  Portage  Path  for  the  Tuscarawas 
and  the  Muskingum,  and  with  the  Scioto  Trail  for  the 
Scioto  River,  and  central  parts  of  the  state.  After 
crossing  the  Cuyahoga  at  Old  Portage  the  great  trail 
kept  on  westward,  nearly  on  the  same  line  as  the  Smith 

176 


BEGINNING  OF  PORTAGE  PATH 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

Road,  until  it  reached  the  Huron  River,  where  it  inter- 
sected with  Indian  trails  from  the  Muskingum  and  Wal- 
honding  Rivers,  also  with  trails  from  the  Mohican 
River,  passing  through  Ashland  and  Richland  Counties. 
From  Huron  River  the  combined  trails  followed  the 
east  bank  of  that  river  to  Lake  Erie ;  thence  along  the 
Lake  shore  to  Sandusky  and  Detroit.  From  the  north- 
ern branch  of  the  great  trail,  side  trails  branched  off 
to  Indian  villages  in  Northampton,  Bath,  and  Richfield. 
Another  trail  extended  along  the  south  side  of  the 
Cuyahoga,  extending  from  Old  Portage,  via  the  falls  of 
Hoppocon,  (Big  Falls)  to  Standing  Stone  (Kent),  pass- 
ing through  the  northern  part  of  Tallmadge.  Another 
trail  led  southeast  from  the  falls  of  Hoppocon,  passing 
through  Tallmadge,  near  Middlebury,  to  Springfield 
Lake. 

Dr.  William  Smith,  writing  of  this  great  trail,  says: 
"In  this  day's  march,  Oct.  9,  1764,  the  path  divided  into 
two  branches,  that  to  the  southwest  leading  to  the  low- 
er towns  on  the  Muskingum.  In  the  forks  of  the  path 
stand  several  trees  painted  by  the  Indians  in  hierog- 
lyphic manner  denoting  the  number  of  wars  in  which 
they  have  engaged  and  the  particulars  of  their  success 
in  prisoners  and  scalps." 

In  1785,  General  Harmar  drove  all  the  setlers  who 
had  located  west  of  the  Pennsylvania  line,  off  the  trail 
and  east  of  the  Beaver. 

In  1786,  Colonel  Hillman,  of  Pittsburg,  afterwards 
a  settler  in  Youngstown,  began  to  take  great  pack 
trains  over  this  trail  loaded  with  flour  consigned  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga.  From  here  it  was  shipped  to 
Detroit  by  the  ''Mackinaw".    Col.  Hillman's  pack  train 

178 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

usually  numbered  ninety  horses  and  nine  men.  Break- 
neck Creek  was  named  by  him  from  the  fact  that  one  of 
his  men  had  his  neck  broken  when  crossing  the  stream 
by  reason  of  his  horse  stumbling  because  of  a  root  that 
had  fastened  around  its  hoof  under  the  water. 

In  1872  it  was  along  this  trail  that  the  Poe  broth- 
ers followed  the  Indian  marauders,  and  which  ended 
in  the  noted  fight  so  often  quoted. 

It  was  on  this  trail  that  Brady  pursued  the  Indians 
and  had  his  party  ambushed,  defeated  and  compelled 
to  flee  for  their  lives.  It  was  on  this  trail  that  he  made 
his  masterly  race  for  life,  his  famous  leap,  his  success- 
ful escape,  giving  his  name  to  Brady's  Lake  since  1780. 

It  was  on  this  trail  that  Benjamin  Tappan  and 
Benjamin  Bigsby  found  their  way  to  Ravenna  in  1799. 

It  was  on  this  trail  that  from  1759  to  1764,  Mrs. 
Stewart  and  Mary  Campbell  were  held  prisoners  at 
Cuyahoga  Falls. 

Under  date  of  July  20,  1796,  Milton  Holley,  one  of 
the  Connecticut  Land  Company's  surveyors  said:  **0n 
the  sixty-fifth  mile,  for  seventy  chains,  land  gently  de- 
scends to  the  south,  thinly  timbered  with  white  and 
black  oak,  at  seventy-two  chains  to  an  Indian  path  east 

and  west." 

It  was  on  this  trail  that  Seth  Pease  and  his  sur- 
veyors traveled  to  and  from  their  work. 

Moses  Warren's  field  book,  July  18,  1796,  says: 
''River  fog  prevented*  observation  of  the  polar  star, 
struck  the  right  bank  of  Cuyahoga  River,  thirteen 
chains,  ninety-eight  links  from  the  'Tortage  tree", 
which  I  traversed  in  three  courses,  the  last  crossing 
the  river.  I  then  traversed  the  path  to  No.  3  and  en- 
camped on  a  run  on  No.  7. 


j> 


179 


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> 

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o 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

It  was  on  this  trail  that  Nicksaw  was  cruelly  mur- 
dered, his  squaw  and  pappoose  left  to  freeze,  while 
three  Indians  taken  as  prisoners  by  Major  Rogers  were 
so  frozen  as  to  be  forever  incapacitated  from  making  a 
living. 

It  was  on  this  trail  that  Capt.  Mills  and  his  band 
of  Indian  hunters  killed  four  out  of  five  of  the  last 
Indians  ever  in  the  county. 

It  was  by  this  trail  that  war  parties  so  swiftly  and 
murderously  fell  on  the  border  settlements  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  escaped  to  their  forest  fastness. 

The  poor  Moravians  and  the  Sandusky  Indians 
were  blamed  for  the  acts  of  their  northern  neighbors. 
There  is  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  writer  but  what 
the  Moravians  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  acts  of  these 
villagers,  tributary  to  the  Fort  Mcintosh  and  Sandusky 
trails. 

At  the  point  where  this  trail  crosses  Silver  Creek, 
in  Portage  County,  Frederick  Daniels  and  others  in 
1814,  discovered,  painted  on  several  trees,  various  de- 
vices, evidently  the  work  of  the  Indians.  The  bark  was 
carefully  shaved  off  two  thirds  of  the  way  around,  and 
figures  cut  upon  the  wood.  One  of  these  delineated 
seven  Indians  equipped  in  particular  manner,  and  one 
of  whom  was  without  a  head.  This  was  supposed  to 
have  been  made  by  a  party  on  their  return  westward, 
to  give  intelligence  to  their  friends  behind,  of  the  loss 
of  one  of  their  party  at  that  place,  and  on  making 
search  a  human  skeleton  was  discovered  near  by. 

The  trail  followed  the  highest  ground  along  the 
watershed,  and  parties  of  Indians  were  continually  pass- 
ing, probably  for    centuries.     Long   after    the  whites 

181 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

came,  this  Indian  migration  went  steadily  on  over  the 
great  aboriginal  thoroughfare  from  Sandusky  to  the 
Ohio   River.    There  were  several  large  piles  of  stones 

on  this  trail  under  which  human  remains  have  been 
found.  These  are  supposed  to  be  savages  slain  in  war, 
or  murdered  by  their  enemies,  as  tradition  has  it  that 
it  was  formerly  an  Indian  custom  for  each  Indian  pass- 
ing the  grave  of  an  enemy  to  throw  a  stone  upon  it. 

''Standing  Stone"  on  this  trail,  was  a  huge  natural 
pillar  of  sandstone  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga, at  what  was  known  as  Franklin  Mills,  now  Kent. 
It  is  said  to  have  been  an  imposing  sight,  standing  in 
the  midst  of  the  rushing  stream,  with  a  lone  pine  tree 
crowning  its  summit.  It  was  near  here  that  the  In- 
dians had  their  fording  place. 

The  best  known  and  seemingly  the  most  important 
Indian  land  mark  was  the  "Portage  Path".  The  old- 
est European  maps  as  well  as  the  earlier  American 
ones  gave  it,  even  before  the  Ohio  river  was  little  more 
than  a  myth  to  the  average  European  scholar.  In  these 
old  maps  the  Cuyahoga  was  given  as  rising  in  Summit 
Lake,  and  ''the  Portage"  only  a  mile  in  length.  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson  were  favorably  impressed  with 
the  point  as  being  possibly  of  great  strategic  and  com- 
mercial value.  The  early  statesmen  discussed  the  pos- 
sibility of  building  a  canal  to  connect  the  Cuyahoga 
with  the  Tuscarawas,  this  making  a  continuous  line 
for  boats  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf.  These 
rivers  at  that  time  carried  four  times  the  volume  of 
water  that  they  do  at  the  present  time.  A  student 
of  the  old  maps  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies cannot  but  be  impressed  with  the  distinction  this 

182 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

at  one  time  held.  In  four  different  treaties  with  the 
Indian  tribes  it  was  made  the  western  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  The  savages  had  made  it  a  highway  for 
centuries  and  were  loath  to  give  it  up. 

Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1787,  secured  to 
the  citizens  of  the  new  Republic,  the  right  of  highway 
on  it  forever.  The  State  of  Ohio  upon  her  admission 
to  the  union,  was  received  into  the  union  of  States 
upon  this  express  condition  among  many  others.  Long 
afterward,  after  Ohio  had  succeeded  to  her  statehood, 
lines  of  boats  ascended  to  **01d  Portage",  and  it  was 
no  common  sight  to  see  more  than  one  hundred  team.s 
unloading  at  this  terminus  of  the  'Tortage  Path," 
while  at  the  other  terminus,  ''New  Portage",  lines  of 
boats  ran  directly  to  the  gulf  without  breaking  bulk. 
As  late  as  the  War  of  1812,  this  point  was  so  import- 
ant that  an  army  of  occupation  under  Major  General 
Wadsworth  lay  at  "Old  Portage",  shipping  troops  and 
supplies  from  Cleveland  to  this  point,  and  from  here 
shipping  troops  and  munitions  of  war  to  the  advanced 
posts  on  the  Huron  River  and  Sandusky.  Troops  were 
also  hastened  from  this  point  for  the  relief  of  Fort 
Meigs  and  Detroit. 

The  'Tortage  Path"  was  by  legislative  enactment 
made  the  boundary  line  of  Washington,  of  Jefferson 
and  of  Trumbull  Counties.  The  Portage  gave  its  name 
to  one  of  the  townships  through  which  it  runs,  and  also 
gave  its  name  to  the  third  county  to  be  organized  in 
the  Western  Reserve.  The  county  in  which  it  lies  took 
the  name  of  Summit,  as  Portage  was  already  pre-empt- 
ed by  the  county  from  which  it  sprung.  Summit  was 
the  apex  of  Portage,  and  Akron,  its  metropolis,  became 

183 


INDIAN  TRAILS 


the  ''Tip-Top-City",  because  it  was  on  the  top  of  Sum- 
mit, the  highest  land  in  the  State,  sending  its  waters 
both  ways,  into  the  Great  Lakes  of  the  north  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south.    Springfield  Lake,  one  of 


CENTER  OF  INDIAN  COMMUNICATION 


the  sources  of  the  Cuyahoga,  lies  in  Summit  County, 
and  is  nearly  seven  hundred  feet  higher  than  Lake  Erie 

ed  and  seventy-two  feet  higher  than  the 


184 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

mill  race  in  front  of  the  Empre  House,  now  Portage 
Hotel  in  Akron. 

Portage  Summit  was  a  well  known  name  in  early 
canal  days,  it  is  up  to  the  citizens  of  the  city  to  see 
that  it  does  not  grow  cold. 

The  'Tortage  Path"  started  at  the  portage  of  the 
Cuyahoga,  at  ''Old  Portage",  and  run  nearly  west,  un- 
til the  top  of  the  highland  was  reached,  when  it  turned 
almost  directly  south,  passing  along  the  eastern  bound- 
aries of  lot  2  in  Portage  township,  where  it  left  the 
Cuyahoga,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  North 
township  line  of  Portage ;  thence  along  the  west  bound- 
aries of  lots  numbered  2,  3,  6,  7,  and  near  the  middle  of 
10,  where  it  bore  a  few  rods  to  the  west,  continuing  this 
way  across  lots  10  and  11,  when  it  bore  to  the  eastward, 
a  few  rods  east  of  the  northeast  corner  of  lot  14,  then 
crossed  West  Exchange  Street  extension,  following  the 
road  now  running  west  of  the  residences  of  Goodrich, 
Works  and  Marvin,  and  on  past  the  old  Perkins  resi- 
dence, all  on  lot  14,  thence  nearly  south  across  the  new 
Perkins  Park,  until  it  struck  a  tract  line  running  due 
west  from  Buchtel  College,  when  it  made  a  turn  and 
bore  south-westernly  across  A.  G.  Mallison's  part  of 
lot  18,  crossing  Wooster  avenue  on  the  line  between  lot 
18  and  19,  a  short  distance  east  of  the  four  corners  at 
Sherbondy,  thence  on  south-easternly,  crossing  Thorn- 
ton street,  a  few  rods  east  of  where  that  street  makes 
a  junction  with  the  Manchester  Road;  then  it  struck 
nearly  south,  across  lot  19,  west  of  Manning's  Pond 
along  the  Manchester  Road  until  it  struck  South  street, 
when  it  again  bore  west  of  the  road,  crossing  it  again 
nearly  opposite  the  center  of  Summit  Lake;  thence 

185 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

nearly  following  the  course  of  the  road  until  Coventry 
center  is  reached,  when  it  passes  through  March's  prop- 
erty and  the  eastern  end  of  Nesmith  Lake,  passes  Louie 
Young's  and  strikes  the  Tuscarawas  south  of  the  canal 
opposite  to  Young's  Road  House. 

Moses  Warren's  field  book,  July  19  and  20,  1796, 
says:  "Continued  the  traverse  to  Tuskawawa  landing 
at  course  74.  At  No.  72  is  a  large  white  oak,  marked 
with  many  hieroglyphics.  In  the  vicinity  are  many  In- 
dian camps.  The  traverse  from  the  second  parallel  by 
the  path  is  658.63 ;  length  of  portage  644.55  chains." 

"July  21,  1796 — Continued  a  traverse  down  the 
river  from  which  I  was  allured  by  Mr.  Pease's  pack- 
horse  man,  who  sounded  the  Indian  whoop,  and  being 
answered  refused  to  reply  as  we  heard  him.  Mr.  Pease 
connected  his  traverse  with  mine  at  No.  96,  about  forty 
chains  southwest  of  the  landing.  Except  the  Cuya- 
hoga Hill,  the  Portage  will  admit  an  excellent  road, 
and  that  is  not  so  formidable  as  the  one  at  Queenstown, 
Upper  Canada." 

Every  stream  of  considerable  size  had  its  Indian 
Trail  leading  along  one  or  other  of  its  banks. 

Long  before  the  white  man  ever  saw  Northern 
Ohio,  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  "Ohio  Country"  had  used 
"Portage  Path"  in  their  travels  from  the  Ohio  river 
and  intermediate  points,  to  the  Great  Lakes  of  the 
North.  The  canoe  was  their  most  valued  possession, 
and  their  chosen  way  of  travel.  Ascending  the  Cuya- 
hoga which  in  that  day  was  a  great  river  running  bank 
full,  to  the  Portage,  they  carried  their  light  birch 
bark  canoes  along  "Portage  Path"  until  they  reached 
the  head  waters  of  the  Tuscarawas,  at  the  other  end 

186 


PICTURED  TREE  ON  PATH 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

of  the  path.  This  was  the  shortest  and  best  portage 
between  waters  leading  into  the  great  river  and  the 
great  lake.  At  Zoar  they  reached  Conotten  Creek, 
which  connected  with  Cross  Creek,  entering  the  Ohio 
below  Steubenville.  At  Navarre,  a  creek  reached  near- 
ly across  Stark  County.  At  Bolivar  the  Big  Sandy  be- 
came a  confluent,  from  which  Carroll,  Stark  and  Colum- 
biana Counties  were  reached.  In  1764,  according  to 
Dr.  Wm.  Smith,  the  river  here  was  two  hundred  and 
ten  feet  wide,  a  beautiful,  strong  and  clear  stream. 
At  Coshocton,  the  Walhonding  united;  then  jointly 
forming  the  Big  Muskingum.  The  waters  of  the  Wal- 
honding furnished  them  a  highway  to  Coshocton,  Knox, 
Holmes,  Ashland  and  Richland  Counties,  and  via  Ver- 
non River,  into  Morrow  County.  At  Adams  Mills, 
Wills  Creek  made  a  route  into  Guernsey  County,  while 
the  Michalach,  coming  from  Licking  County,  joined 
the  river  at  Zanesville.  At  Putnam,  the  Moxahala 
Creek,  opened  a  way  into  Perry  County.  Thus  these 
aboriginal  travelers  were  able  to  reach  almost  every 
part  of  eastern  and  central  Ohio  from  the  Tuscarawas, 
Muskingum,  White  Woman's  Rivers,  and  their  con- 
fluent branches.  Truly  a  great  highway  in  the  days 
of  canoe  voyaging. 

The  Great  Scioto  War  Trail  left  the  'Tortage  Path" 
near  the  foot  of  Sherbondy  Hill,  south-east  corner  of 
lot  18,  where  it  crosses  Wooster  avenue,  thence  down 
Wooster  avenue,  crossing  the  southeastern  corner  of 
lot  20,  in  Portage  township,  and  diagonally  across  lot 
1,  in  Coventry  township,  entering  Norton  township  on 
the  northeast  corner  of  lot  20,  and  crossed  the  Wolf 
Creek  near  where  Van  Hyning's  bridge  now  is,  passed 

188 


INDIAN  TRIALS 

down  the  west  side  of  Wolf  Creek  Bottoms  nearly  on 
the  same  course  of  the  present  road.  It  crossed  the 
south-east  corner  of  lot  38,  and  diagonally  across  lot 
48,  into  lot  67,  and  from  there  took  a  direct  course  for 
Johnson's  Corners.  From  Johnson's  Corners  it  follow- 
ed a  south-west  course,  nearly  identical  with  the  Woos- 
ter  Road,  passing  around  the  hill  at  Doylestown,  to  the 
west,  it  followed  the  road  to  Wooster,  from  thence 
down  the  Killbuck  and  Walhonding    Valleys    to    the 

Scioto.  This  trail  was  followed  by  early  settlers  in 
Norton  and  Wadsworth,  Doylestown,  etc.  It  was  mark- 
ed by  a  well  beaten  path,  a  hard  and  compact  roadway 
for  pedestrians  or  horses.  In  many  places  this  path 
was  a  foot  below  the  surrounding  surface,  worn  down 
by  countless  feet  following  its  course  for  many  decades. 
It  proved  of  but  little  avail  as  a  highway  for  teams, 
until  trees  were  cut  and  underbrush  cleared  away. 
The  road  was  not  cut  as  far  as  Johnson's  Corners,  un- 
til in  1816,  when  it  soon  reached  as  far  as  Wooster. 

This  trail  connected  at  Portage  Path  with  the  trail 
to  the  Great  Lakes  on  the  north  and  the  Tuscarawas 
and  Muskingum  on  the  south:  At  Old  Portage  it  con- 
nected with  the  great  trail  running  from  Fort  Mcintosh 
on  the  east,  and  Sandusky  and  Detroit  on  the  west. 

This  great  War  Trail  allowed  the  northern  tribes 
which  were  very  numerous  at  one  time,  along  the  Cuya- 
hoga, Tuscarawas,  Portage  Path  and  the  many  inland 
lakes,  to  throw  their  war  parties  quickly  and  surely  far 
down  the  Ohio,  to  meet  the  encroachment  of  the  whites 
upon  Indian  territory  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  Along 
this  trail  were  numerous  Indian  villages,  especially  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Wooster,    and    the    wild,    forest 

189 


INDIAN  STATUE  ON  PORTAGE  PATH 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

passed.     After  the  building  of  Fort  Harmar  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  many  war  parties  that  for- 
merly passed  down  that  river  to  its  junction  with  Ih 
Ohio,  followed  the  great  Scioto  War  Trail,  which  cross- 
ed the  Walhonding. 

Along  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  ran  the  Lake  Indian 
Trail,  rarely  used  as  a  war  trail,  but  mostly  used  by 
hunting  and  fishing  parties.  This  extended  from  San- 
dusky, (from  where  the  war  trail  ran  westwardly  to 
the  Miami  of  the  lakes,  and  thence  on  to  Detroit)  to 
Buffalo  Creek. 

There  were  too  many  streams  to  cross  on  this  trail 
to  ever  make  it  popular  with  the  red  men.  The  Indians 
maintained  a  ferry  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga,  yet, 
east  or  west,  there  were  too  many  large  streams  enter- 
ing Lake  Erie,  that  were  difficult  to  cross,  to  even  make 
it  a  chosen  route.  On  the  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  were 
the  Huron,  Vermillion,  Black  and  Rocky  Rivers,  be- 
sides many  other  streams.  On  the  east,  from  the  Cuya- 
hoga to  Presque  Isle,  there  were  ten  streams  to  cross. 
In  quiet  weather  when  the  lake  was  not  boisterous,  the 
streams  could  be  safely  passed  as  a  sandbar  always 
formed  just  outside  the  mouth  of  the  streams;  nature 
thus  built  a  subterranean  bridge  for  those  who  were 
willing  to  wade.  The  trouble  existed  in  finding  the 
lake  quiet  enough  for  this  purpose.  However,  a  well 
defined  trail  ran  along  the  lake  shore  during  the  years 
intervening  between  760  and  1796. 

After  the  unfortunate  Bradstreet  Expedition  of 
1764,  for  many  years,  the  neighborhood  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Rocky  River  was  a  famous  resort  for  the  Indians 

191 


INDIAN  TRAILS 

of  Northern  Ohio.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  waves 
washed  up  much  plunder,  sad  remembrances  of  that 
fatal  shipwreck. 

There  were  many  other  trails  on  the  Reserve,  but 
none  of  which  were  very  prominent,  and  it  required 
much  study  and  great  labor  to  rehabilitate  them.  A 
century  and  a  quarter  of  silence  has  served  to  bury 
them  beyond  the  memory  of  men. 


NOTED  INDIAN  CHIEFS  ON  THE  RESERVE 

"I  am;  how  little  more  I  know! 

Whence  came  I?     "Whither  do  I  go? 
A  centered  self,  which  feels  and  is; 

A  cry  between  the   silences; 
A  shadow-birth  of  clouds  at  strife 

With  sunshine  on  the  hills  of  life; 
A  shaft  from  Nature's  quiver  cast 

Into  the  future  from  the  past; 
Between  the  cradle  and  the  shroud, 

A  meteor's  flight  from  cloud  to  cloud." 

— Whittier. 

It  was  in  a  mad  whirl  of  that  celebrated  Indian 
campaign  known  as  ''Mad  Anthony's  War,"  that  Capt. 
Pipe,  Jr.,  son  of  Hopocan,  old  Capt.  Pipe,  won  his  spurs. 
Wayne  broke  the  spirits  of  the  Indians  of  the  North- 
west. 

His  village  lay  at  the  southern  end  of  the  portage 
path  in  Coventry,  numbering  at  one  time  over  five  hun- 
dred warriors.  He  was  by  far  the  shrewdest,  best 
known,  most  vindictive  and  the  most  powerful  Dela- 
ware chieftain  in  Ohio.  It  was  he  who  burnt  Col.  Craw- 
ford at  the  stake  and  who  at  various  treaties  always 
signed  his  name  as  "Capt.  Pipe,  King  of  New  Portage." 
New  Portage  at  this  time  was  at  "the  Feeder,"  near  the 
present  Young's  Hotel.  He,  at  the  treaty  of  Greenville, 
in  1795,  ceded  his  territory  to  the  United  States,  hav- 
ing previous  to  this  built  a  new  village  at  Greentown, 
in  Ashland  County,  where  he  remained  until  he  dis- 
appeared, about  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  war 
of  1S12.  He  was  not  only  a  man  of  power,  but  he  was 
"a  man  of  mystery."     Except  the  fact  that  he  was 

193 


CAPTAIN  PIPE  \X^ARNING  SCOUT 


INDIAN  CHIEFS 

here,  there  is  no  direct  evidence  that  he  was  ever  born 
or  that  he  ever  died. 

One  of  the  saddest  tales  of  early  Ohio  History 
hangs  around  his  sister.  In  Ashland  County  is  "Pipe's 
Cliff";  connected  with  it,  but  detached  from  it,  rises  a 
rock  tower  over  one  hundred  feet  above  the  surround- 
ing country.  In  its  center  it  is  said  Capt.  Pipe  made 
sacrifices.  It  is  called,  in  commemoration  of  the  mur- 
dered sister  of  Captain  Pipe,  "Onalaska's  Tower". 

Chief  Beaver  Hat  was  another  Delaware  Chieftain, 
and  although  he  did  not  live  on  the  Reserve,  yet  living 
so  close  to  it  he  was  connected  largely  with  its  history. 
His  village  was  situated  at  "Apple  Orchard"  on  the 
Great  Scioto  War  Trail,  whose  northern  terminus  was 
the  "portage  path".  He  was  here  much  of  his  time 
upon  his  hunting  and  fishing  expeditions.  Beaver  Hat 
was  a  deep,  bitter,  unrelenting  enemy  to  the  whites. 
He  was  a  heavy  drinker  and  when  intoxicated  he  was 
abusive  and  bragged  of  the  white  men  he  had  killed. 
He  carried  with  him  a  string  of  thirteen  dried  tongues, 
which  he  claimed  were  tongues  of  white  men  he  had 
killed.  He  made  this  exhibition  in  presence  of  George 
Harter,  one  day,  and  in  the  next  he  was  missing. 

Gen.  Bierce,  in  his  history  of  Summit  County,  pub- 
lished in  1854,  gives  the  following  account  of  Ogontz, 
a  celebrated  chief  of  the  Ottawas. 

"He  had  been  educated  by  French  Missionaries  at 
Quebec,  for  a  Catholic  Priest,  but  no  sooner  were  the 
restraints  of  Civilization  removed,  than  he  left  for  the 
freedom  of  his  forest  home.  He  lived  near  Fort  Indus- 
try (Sandusky).  Ogontz  was  brave,  talented,  and  well 
educated,  but  like  his  race,  wild  and  intractable.     At 

195 


INDIAN  CHIEFS 

the  time  of  the  first  settlement  in  Hudson,  he  had  no 
power  other  than  what  his  talents  and  education  gave 
him.  Coming  along  one  day,  near  dusk,  on  horseback, 
he  inquired  of  Capt.  Heman  Oviatt,  the  path  to  "Ponty's 
Camp."  Capt.  Oviatt  walked  along  into  the  woods  to 
show  him,  when  Ogontz  ordered  him  to  go  no  further; 
but  the  Captain  was  the  wrong  man  to  order — the  more 
he  was  ordered,  the  more  he  wouldn't.  Ogontz  drew 
up  his  rifle  to  shoot  him,  when  the  Captain  sprung,  and 
seizing  his  rifle,  wrenched  it  from  him,  and  then  order- 
ed Ogontz  to  "right  about" !  The  haughty  Indian, 
knowing  whom  he  had  to  deal  with,  obeyed  orders  like 
a  drill  sergeant,  and  the  Captain  drove  him  back  to 
Hudson,  where  after  discharging  his  rifle,  and  taking 
from  him  his  rifle  and  ammunition,  he  discharged  HIM, 
in  no  very  pleasant  humor.  In  1808,  the  Indians  hold- 
ing a  grand  pow-wow,  became  greatly  excited  by 
whiskey.  Ogontz,  almost  alone,  remained  sober.  In 
the  frenzy  of  intoxication,  the  chief  of  the  tribe  struck 
Ogontz,  who  immediately  laid  the  head  of  the  chief 
open  with  his  tomahawk.  On  the  following  day  the 
Indians  held  a  council,  in  which  Og^ontz  was  acquitted, 
and  made  Chief  in  place  of  the  one  he  had  slain. 
Ogontz  having  no  children,  adopted  the  only  son  of  the 
deceased  Chief,  and  with  all  the  tenderness  of'a  father 
reared  him  to  manhood — but  no  sooner  had  he  arrived 
at  the  ag-e  prescribed  for  a  warrior,  than  with  the  re- 
taliating spirit  of  the  savage,  he  shot  his  benefactor, 
and  avenged  the  blood  of  his  father. 

Ogontz  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  Chieftains 
that  ever  lived  on  the  Reserve.  As  a  Catholic  priest  he 
had  been  educated  with  the  hope  that  he  would  be  able 

1% 


INDIAN  CHIEFS 

to  evangelize  th  north-western  tribes.    The  hopes  were 
f alacious,  and  of  that  period  of  his  hf e,  he  said : 

**In  my  heart  I  had  never  been  a  good  Cathohc, 
though  I  had  tried  to  be  a  good  Christian.  I  found  it, 
however,  easier  to  make  CathoHcs  than  Christians  of 
other  Indians.  What  I  mean  is,  that  they  were  much 
more  wilHng'to  observe  the  forms  than  obey  the  laws 
of  Christianity,  and  that  they  grew  no  better  under  my 
teaching.  I  became  discouraged,  and  feared  that  my 
preaching  was  an  imposition  and  I  an  impostor." 

Several  years  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  last 
war  with  England,  Ogontz  finally  abandoned  his  village 
on  the  Cuyahoga  and  retired  to  his  Village  of  Ogontz, 
at  Sandusky.  Here  he  remained  until  1812,  when  with 
his  people  he  fled  to  Canada.  After  the  declaration  of 
peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  he 
and  his  people  proceeded  to  the  Maumee  River,  where 
he  was  murdered  by  his  stepson. 

Ogontz  many  times  carried  Jay  Cooke,  the  great 
banker  on  his  shoulders,  and  in  later  years  the  great 
financier  named  his  magnificent  country  seat,  near  Phil- 
adelphia, in  honor  of  the  old  Indian.  Sandusky  has  one 
of  its  streets,  flouring  mills,  a  Knights  Templars  lodge, 
and  a  fire  company  named  after  him,  while  an  Indian 
namesake,  a  grandson  of  his,  yet  holds  sway  among  the 
Lake  Superior  Indians. 

Wam-pe-tek  was  a  Chief  of  a  band  of  about  forty 
Indians  who  lived  at  Turkey  Foot  Lake,  the  history  of 
whose  sad  murder  is  given  in  another  place  and  chap- 
ter. These  Indians  were  kind,  inoffensive  and  the 
friends  of  the  whites. 

197 


PONTIAC  TAKING  UP  THE  HATCHET 


INDIAN  CHIEFS 

Peter  Wilson,  a  Seneca  Chief,  was  educated  by  Mr. 
Bissel  of  Twinsburg.  After  returning  to  his  tribe,  he 
was  an  interpreter  to  a  missionary.  He  was  an  orator 
of  no  mean  abihty.  He  performed  great  services  for 
his  tribe.  At  different  times  he  appeared  before  the 
New  York  legislature,  also  before  Congress.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  concessions  for  his  tribe  that  no 
other  enjoyed.  He  lost  his  health  in  protracted  efforts 
made  to  save  a  drowning  white  man. 

Blackbird  was  an  Ottawa  Chief,  also  educated  by 
and  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Bissel,  of  Twinsburg.  He 
was  a  fine  scholar,  an  author  and  diplomat.  Blackbird 
was  a  direct  descendant  of  Pontiac,  the  greatest  chief 
the  Indians  ever  had.  Pontiac's  first  appearance  before 
the  American  public  was  at  the  time  Major  Rogers' 
Expedition  landed  a  few  miles  south  of  Cleveland.  He 
came  with  all  the  rude  panoply  of  war  and  haughtily 
demanded  the  reason  of  the  white  chief's  invasion  of 
the  Indian  country.  Blackbird  appeared  before  the 
legislature  of  Michigan  in  the  interest  of  his  tribe  and 
by  his  impassioned  eloquence  moved  them  to  accede  to 
his  demands. 

Black  Hawk,  the  celebrated  warrior  and  Indian 
chief,  was  born  previous  to  1772.  He  was  a  resident  of 
Cuyahoga  Valley.  At  the  close  of  the  Black  Hawk  War 
in  which  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant  and  Abraham  Lincoln  took 
part,  Black  Hawk  was  captured  and  brought  to  Cleve- 
land on  his  way  to  Washington.  Here  he  asked  per- 
mission to  visit  the  grave  of  his  mother  located  on  the 
Cuyahoga.  This  was  granted  and  he  paid  a  farewell 
tribute  to  the  graves  of  his  sires. 

199 


INDIAN  CHIEFS 

During  this  exciting  war  the  United  States  em- 
ployed an  Indian  Chief  by  the  name  of  Black  Wolf  to 
command  its  Indian  contingency.  Black  Wolf  was 
afterward  assassinated  by  his  nephew  at  White  Tavern, 
Iowa.  The  writer  placed  the  skull  of  Black  Wolf  in  the 
museum  of  Buchtel  College,  and  it  was  consumed  at 
the  time  of  the  fire  which  destroyed  the  great  building 
of  which  Horace  Greely  laid  the  corner  stone. 

Chief  Piqua,  of  the  Massanga  tribe,  was  a  noble 
looking  Indian,  of  lofty  stature,  full  of  native  talent, 
dignified  and  impressive  in  bearing.  His  village  was 
situated  near  the  mouth  of  Conneaut  Creek.  It  con- 
sisted of  some  thirty  wigwams,  and  was  laid  out  with 
some  degree  of  engineering  skill;  regularly  and  sys- 
tematically. It  presented  an  appearance  of  neatness 
and  comfort  unusual  in  the  habitations  of  the  red  man. 
The  tribe  claimed  that  they  had  lived  here  for  a  time 
far  beyond  the  memory  of  their  oldest  men.  The  tribe 
was  war-like  and  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  Indian 
Wars. 

Pontiac  was  called  the  tiger  of  the  Northwest. 
In  his  early  manhood  he  spent  much  of  his  time 
in  the  village  of  his  people,  on  the  Cuyahoga. 
"Ponty's  Camp",  was  a  well  known  land  mark  to  the 
earliest  adventurers  across  the  Alleghenies.  In  Lewis 
Evan's  map  of  the  Middle  British  Colonies,  London, 
1755,  the  point  is  designated  as  'Tawas."  Victor  in  his 
"American  Conspiracies",  says:  Proceeding  in  row 
boats  up  Lake  Erie  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Cuya- 
hciga  River,  in  Ohio,  November  7,  1780,  where  the 
Major  determined  to  encamp  for  a  few  days  to  rest  his 
wearied  men.    He  had  scarcely  lit  his  camp  fires  ere  a 

200 


INDIAN  CHIEFS 

troop  of  Indians  appeared,  proclaiming  themselves  the 
messengers  of  Pontiac,  and,  in  his  name,  ordering  the 
English  to  go  no  further.  Rogers  demanded  an  inter- 
view with  the  chief,  who  soon  appeared,  accompanied 
by  an  imposing  retinue  of  warriors.  It  w^as  HERE  that 
the  great  conspirator  FIRST  came  forward  into  the  full 
light  of  history.  From  Rogers  minute  account  of 
the  interview,  we  have  a  clear  conception  of  the  In- 
dian Attila.  He  approached  with  a  haughty  stride, 
gorgeously  attired  in  his  savage  costume,  demanding 
at  once,  in  an  impervious  tone,  to  know  by  what  author- 
ity the  British  officer  presumed  to  enter  the  Indian 
country  without  permission  or  treaty.  Rogers  was  not 
a  man  without  nerve.  He  stood  as  unabashed  before 
that  son  of  the  forest  as  he  would  have  done  before  a 
great  oak,  surging  and  roaring  in  the  wind". 

"Pontiac  was  powerful  in  person,  commanding  in 
presence,  resolute  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  possess- 
ed of  a  rare  gift  of  eloquence,  sagacious  and  subtile  as 
a  beast  of  prey.  He  rightfully  claimed  the  office  of  chief 
over  many  tribes  and  became  the  minister  of  vengeance 
for  his  race." 

Mingotown,  on  the  Cuyahoga,  had  Logan  for  a 
chief,  Logan,  the  white  man's  friend,  Logan,  all  of 
whose  relatives  were  murdered  on  the  upper  Ohio  by 
the  whites  and  which  precipitated  one  of  the  most  cost- 
ly and  bloody  wars  in  the  history  of  the  Ohio  Country. 
Logan's  speech  will  be  found  on  chapter  of  Indian  Elo- 
quence. 

Chief  Seneca's  camp  was  a  half  mile  south  of 
"Ponty's  Camp"  and  on  the  same  side  of  the  river. 

201 


TECUMSEH 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  GREAT  INDIAN 
CHIEFTAINS  IN  OHIO. 

Ohio  became  a  part  of  the  great  Northwestern  Ter- 
ritory in  1788.  Fifteen  years  later,  having  gone 
through  the  second  grade  of  territorial  organization  in 
1798,  she  became  a  State  on  March  3,  1803. 

The  eastern  line  of  Indiana  then  became  the  east- 
ern line  of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  General  Wm. 
Henry  Harrison,  who  served  in  both  St.  Clair's  and 
Wayne's  campaigns,  became  its  first  governor  in  1799, 
and  remained  its  Governor  for  thirteen  years.. 

Through  British  intrigue  the  Indians  of  the  north- 
west became  active  and  restless  under  the  teachings 
of  the  Shawaneese  Chieftain  Tecumseh  and  his  broth- 
er the  Prophet. 

Tecumseh  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  hunter  of 
his  tribe.  During  one  hunt  he  brought  in  twelve  deer. 
He  was  born  at  Piqua,  Ohio,  in  1768,  and  his  first  battle 
was  on  the  Ohio  River  at  Limestone,  in  1785,  where  he 
showed  great  bravery  and  prowess.  His  intellect  was 
far  above  that  of  his  tribesmen  and  he  was  a  fluent  and 
natural  born  orator.  His  was  not  the  inhumanity  of 
his  predecessors  and  he  made  his  tribesmen  promise  to 
bum  no  more  prisoners  at  the  stake.  He  became  a 
chief  in  1795,  and  was  at  many  battles,  among  them 
Fort  Recovery  and  Fallen  Timbers.  He  removed  to 
White  River  in  Indiana  in  1798,  but  again  removed  to 

202 


TECUMSEH 

Ohio  in  1805,  locating  on,  or  near  the  present  town  of 
Greenville. 

His  brother,  Lanlewasikaw,  commonly  known  as 
'The  Prophet,"  practiced  low  cunning  and  sorcery  and 
was  able  to  sway  and  influence  the  Indian  mind  to  an 
unbelieveable  extent.  Both  he  and  they  claimed  that 
he  was  the  earthly  agent  of  the  Great  Spirit.  From 
the  time  of  their  removal  to  Ohio,  they  became  trouble- 
some and  aggressive.  Their  hostile  demonstrations 
gradually  increased.  Harrison  tried  to  conciliate  them 
but  British  emissaries  were  too  strong  for  him. 
Throughout  1806  the  brothers  remained  at  Greenville 
and  gathered  around  them  nearly  a  thousand  war- 
riors. In  the  autumn  of  1807  Harrison  sent  to  the 
chiefs  of  the  Shawanesse  an  address  exhorting  them 
to  send  away  the  people  at  Greenville.  In  the  spring 
of  1808  Tecumseh  and  his  brother  removed  to  the  Tip- 
pecanoe, a  tributary  to  the  Wabash. 

In  1809  a  council  was  held  at  Fort  Wayne.  The 
governor  purchased  of  them  the  title  to  3,000,000  acres 
of  land.  Tecumseh  refused  to  sign  and  threatened  the 
lives  of  all  who  had  signed.  Hearing  this,  Harrison 
invited  him  to  visit  Vincennes,  the  then  capital  of  the 
north-west  territory,  but  stipulated  that  he  should  not 
bring  more  than  thirty  warriors  with  him. 

In  August,  1810,  he  came  with  400  armed  warriors. 
He  came  before  Harrison  with  forty  armed  men  and 
refused  to  either  lay  aside  their  arms  or  meet  on  the 
portico  of  Harrison's  house.  The  meeting  was  held  in 
a  nearby  grove.  It  was  a  stormy  session  and  at  one 
time  a  fight  was  nearly  precipitated.  Harrison  drew 
his  sword  and  said  to  Tecumseh :    ''You  are  a  bad  man. 

203 


TECUMSEH 

I  will  have  no  further  talk  with  you.  You  must  now 
hasten  immediately  to  your  camp  and  take  your  de- 
parture from  these  settlements." 

In  the  autumn  of  1811  he  began  to  prepare  for  the 
com.ing  struggle  and  October  5,  receiving  the  re-inforce- 
ments  he  had  been  looking  for,  he  advanced  up  the 
Wabash  where  he  built  a  block-house  and  struck  direct- 
ly for  Prophetstown  on  the  Tippecanoe.  When  within 
a  few  miles  of  his  destination  Indians  appeared  who 
asked  for  a  conference  on  the  following  morning.  Their 
request  was  granted  and  the  army  encamped  for  the 
night.  The  place  selected  was  the  west  line  of  the  en- 
campment. On  all  sides  was  prairie  marsh  land  cover- 
ed with  tall  grass. 

Before  daybreak  of  the  morning  of  Nov.  1,  1811, 
seven  hundred  Indians  crept  through  the  tall  grass  sur- 
rounding the  camp  and  burst  on  the  camp  like  demons. 
But  the  American  borders  were  under  arms  in  a  mom- 
ens't  time.  The  battle  of  Tippecanoe  was  on ;  fighting 
behind  trees  the  soldiers  held  the  Indians  in  check  until 
daylight,  and  then  in  several  vigorous  charges  sent 
them  flying  in  every  direction. 

On  the  next  day  the  army  went  to  Prophetstown 
and  then  returned  to  theim  homes. 

Tecumseh  was  not  in  this  battle.  He  was  with  the 
Creeks  in  the  south  trying  to  raise  recruits.  When  he 
returned  he  found  ashes  and  a  scattered  people.  He  at 
once  joined  the  British  in  Canada. 

The  Maumee  River  in  early  accounts  is  frequently 
called  'The  Miami  of  the  Lakes",  hence  misleading  to 
the  youthful  investigator.  General  Harrison,  about  the 
first  of  February,  1813,  built  Fort  Meigs  on  the  Mau- 

204 


TECUMSEH 

mee  River.  It  was  built  at  the  foot  of  Maumee  Rapids, 
which  is  frequently  referred  to  as  "The  Rapids".  This 
fort  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  a  few  miles  below 
the  British  Fort,  Fort  Miamis,  which  was  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river.  At  this  time  Harrison's  army  num- 
bered about  2,000  men.  From  Fort  Meigs  ran  two 
roads;  one  to  Lower  Sandusky  (Fremont)  and  one  to 
Upper  Sandusky. 

On  April  26,  1813,  Gen.  Proctor  with  his  army  of 
whites  and  Indians  appeared  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Maumee  and  established  batteries  opposite  Fort  Meigs. 
On  the  27th  the  Indians  invested  the  fort  in  the  rear 
and  on  the  east  side.  General  Harrison  in  his  report 
says:  Proctor's  force  consisted  of  1350  whites  and 
from  1,600  to  2,000  Indians  under  the  command  of 
Tecumseh,  to  whom  Proctor  had  promised  to  deliver 
General  Harrison  should  the  British  force  be  successful. 

On  the  first,  second  and  third  days  of  May,  the 
bombardment  of  the  fort  was  incessant  from  the  Brit- 
ish batteries.  On  the  night  of  the  third  the  British 
erected  a  battery  within  250  yards  of  the  fort,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river. 

About  2  a.  m.  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth,  Harrison 
was  re-inforced  by  General  Clay  of  Kentucky  with 
1,200  men.  Col.  Dudley  with  his  Kentuckians  landed 
on  the  west  bank  with  800  men  and  drove  the  British 
from  their  batteries  and  spiked  their  guns.  Crazed 
with  their  success  they  pursued  the  Indians  for  two 
miles  through  swamps  and  woods  and  were  finally  am- 
buscaded, surrounded  and  taken  prisoners.  Then  be- 
gan the  massacre  of  prisoners.     Out  of  800  men  only 

205 


TECUMSEH 

150  escaped.    The  remainder  were  either  killed  or  taken 
prisoners. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  nobility  of  Tecumseh  there 
would  not  have  been  any  alive  to  tell  the  story. 

Harrison  seeing  the  rashness  of  Dudley^s  men  and 
foreseeing  its  results,  exclaimed  with  despair:  ''They 
are  lost !  They  are  lost !  Can  I  never  get  men  to  obey 
my  orders!"  He  then  offered  $1,000  to  any  man  who 
would  cross  the  river  and  apprise  Col.  Dudley  of  his 
danger.  Outside  of  Dudley's  loss,  Harrison's  loss  dur- 
ing the  thirteen  days  of  seige  was  81  killed  and  189 
wounded.  This  left  him  with  less  than  1,100  fit  for 
duty. 

Forty  of  Dudley's  men  had  already  been  massacred 
after  they  had  surrendered  when  Tecumseh  rode  upon 
a  horse  at  full  speed  and  commanded  the  Indians  to  de- 
sist and  in  a  loud  voice  shouted  he  would  kill  the  first 
savage  who  lifted  a  hand  against  the  prisoners. 

Ewing  in  a  letter  states :  While  this  bloodthirsty 
carnage  was  raging,  a  thundering  voice  was  heard  in 
the  rear,  in  the  Indian  tongue;  when,  turning  around 
he  saw  Tecumseh  coming  with  all  the  rapidity  his  horse 
could  carry  him,  until  he  drew  near  to  where  two  In- 
dians had  an  American,  and  were  in  the  act  of  killing 
him.  He  sprang  from  his  horse,  caught  one  by  the 
throat,  the  other  by  the  breast  and  threw  them  to  the 
ground ;  drawing  his  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife,  he 
ran  in  between  the  Americans  and  the  Indians,  brand- 
ishing them  with  the  fury  of  a  madman  and  daring 
anyone  of  the  hundreds  that  surrounded  him  to  attempt 
to  murder  another  American.  They  all  appeared  con- 
founded, and  immediately  desisted.    His  mind  appear- 

206 


TECUMSEH 

ed  rent  with  passion,  and  he  exclaimed  almost  with 
tears  in  his  eyes :  "Oh !  What  will  become  of  the  In- 
dians!" He  then  demanded  in  an  authoritative  tone 
where  Proctor  was,  but  seeing  him,  demanded  why  he 
had  not  put  a  stop  to  the  inhuman  massacre.  "Sir," 
said  Proctor,  "your  Indians  cannot  be  commanded". 
"Begone",  retorted  Tecumseh  with  the  greatest  disdain, 
"you  are  unfit  to  command ;  go  and  put  on  petticoats". 
The  Indians  withdrew  on  the  8th,  and  on  the  9th 
Proctor  sullenly  started  on  the  road  to  Maiden,  Canada. 
Harrison  left  the  command  of  Fort  Meigs  with  Gen. 
Clay  and  proceeded  to  Lower  Sandusky  where  he  ar- 
rived on  May  12.  Major  Croghan,  who  commanded  at 
Fort  Stephenson  (Fremont)  was  ordered  by  General 
Harrison  to  abandon  and  burn  the  post.  This  the  lad 
refused  to  do,  sending  a  note  to  Harrison  saying :  "We 
have  determined  to  maintain  this  place,  and  BY  Heav- 
ens we  can".  Harrison  ordered  his  removal  and  placed 
Col.  Wells  in  command;  Croghan,  a  nephew  of  Gen. 
George  Rogers  Clark,  of  pioneer  fame,  was  only  21 
years  old,  but  he  proceeded  at  once  to  call  on  Harrison, 
who  returned  to  him  his  command  on  July  30.  The 
next  day,  July  31,  the  enemy  was  discovered  approach- 
ing Sandusky  Bay.  In  the  afternoon  of  August  1,  1813, 
the  enemy  appeared,  first  the  Indians  under  Tecumseh, 
200  strong;  next  the  regulars  and  militia  under  Gen. 
Proctor,  with  selected  Indian  forces  amounting  to  1,400 
men.  Opposed  to  these  forces  was  Croghan  with  one 
hundred  sixty  men  and  one  canon — a  six-pounder.  The 
Proctor  vessels  embarked  about  a  mile  below  the  fort 
while  the  two  gun  boats  remained  above  the  fort  and 
opened  fire  upon  the  brave  little  garrison  and  maintain- 

207 


TECUMSEH 

ed  all  night  long  assisted  by  a  howitzer  on  shore.  The 
enemy  during  the  night  had  landed  three  six-pounders 
which  had  been  placed  250  yards  from  the  fort.  About 
4  p.  m.  they  concentrated  their  fire  upon  the  northwest 
angle.  Croghan  realizing  their  intention,  strengthened 
that  point  with  bags  of  sand  and  flour  from  Akron. 
Late  in  the  evening  of  the  2nd,  while  smoke  clouds  en- 
veloped the  fort,  the  enemy  made  the  assault.  After 
feinting  the  south-angle  twice,  350  men  were  discover- 
ed within  twenty  paces  of  the  north-west  angle.  The 
British  under  Col.  Short  leaped  into  the  ditch  until  it 
was  full.  Just  then  the  canon  of  the  fort  opened  up  at 
a  distance  of  30  feet,  loaded  to  the  muzzle  with  grape 
and  slug.  Hardly  any  were  left  alive.  The  soldiers 
of  the  fort  poured  in  a  most  destructive  fire  from  rifles 
and  pistols,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  British  began  a 
retreat  w^hich  soon  became  a  rout;  hiding  themselves 
in  the  woods. 

Col.  Short  with  twenty-five  of  his  men  and  one 
Lieutenant,  was  found  dead  in  the  ditch.  Harrison 
says  the  enemy's  loss  was  83  killed,  25  prisoners, 
wounded  unknown.  Before  light  the  next  morning 
Proctor's  forces  were  in  full  retreat.  Thus  ended  the 
battle  of  Fort  Stephenson  or  Sandusky  as  it  is  some- 
times called. 

Harrison  said:  *'What  will  Proctor  say  when  he 
finds  he  has  been  baffled  by  a  youth  of  21.  He  (Crog- 
han) is  a  hero,  worthy  of  his  gallant  uncle." 

The  battle  of  Lake  Erie  had  been  fought  and  won, 
and  Sept.  27,  1813,  Gen.  Harrison's  army  embarked  at 
Sandusky  Bay  for  Maiden;  it  was  here  that  Harrison 
was  to  meet  Tecuseh  for  the  last  time.    That  redoubt- 

208 


TECUMSEH 

able  Chieftain  had  said  to  Proctor:  "Listen!  When 
war  was  declared,  our  father  stood  up  and  gave  us  the 
tomohawk,  and  told  us  he  was  then  ready  to  strike  the 
Americans ;  that  he  w^anted  our  assistance,  and  that  he 
would  certainly  get  us  our  lands  back,  which  the  Amer- 
icans had  taken  from  us/' 

Listen,  Father!  The  Americans  have  not  yet  de- 
feated us  by  land;  neither  are  we  sure  that  they  have 
done  so  by  water;  we  therefore  wish  to  remain  here, 
and  fight  our  enemy  if  they  should  make  their  appear- 
ance. If  they  defeat  us,  we  will  then  retreat  with  our 
father.'' 

Father!  You  have  the  arms  and  ammunition 
which  our  great  father  sent  to  his  red  children.  If  you 
have  an  idea  of  going  away,  give  them  to  us,  and  you 
may  go  and  welcome,  for  us.  Our  lives  are  in  the  hands 
of  the  Great  Spirit.  We  are  determined  to  defend  our 
lands,  and  if  it  be  his  will,  we  will  wish  to  leave  our 
bones  upon  them." 

Harrison's  army  landed  near  Maiden  and  the  Brit- 
ish retreated  to  Sandwich ;  the  Americans  were  hard  on 
their  heels  and  Proctor  continued  his  retreat  to  the 
river  Thames,  and  there  faced  about.  The  battle 
ground  was  well  chosen  by  the  British,  whose  lines  ex- 
tended from  a  river  to  a  swamp.  Here  on  October  5, 
1813,  the  Americans  under  Gen.  Harrison  and  Gov. 
Shelby,  of  Kentucky,  gave  battle.  The  mounted  men 
charged  the  front,  broke  through,  turned  and  re-charg- 
ed and  in  a  moment  it  was  all  over  with.  The  British 
front  surrendered;  but  it  was  a  different  proposition 
with  the  Indians  under  Tecumseh,  who  boldly  raised 
the  w^ar  cry  and  pushed  forward  to  meet  the  enemy. 

209 


TECUMSEH 

From  the  commencement  of  the  attack  his  voice  was 
distinctly  heard  animating  them  to  deeds  worthy  of 
their  race.  When  that  well  known  voice  was  heard  no 
longer,  and  it  was  not  until  Col.  Johnson  and  his  mount- 
ed men  had  gained  their  rear,  did  the  Indians  cease  to 
battle  like  demons. 

Tecumseh  fell  by  a  pistol  shot  fired  by  Col.  Richard 
M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky.  He  was  scalped,  flayed,  and 
his  skin  cut  into  razor-straps. 

The  British  loss  was  12  killed,  22  wounded,  634 
taken  prisoners.  Our  loss,  7  killed,  22  wounded.  Over 
100  dead  Indians  were  found  on  the  field,  their  wounded 
had  been  carried  away  as  was  their  custom. 

The  victory  was  complete;  Harrison  captured  609 
non-coms  and  privates,  two  generals,  four  majors  and 
nineteen  officers  of  the  line,  12  cannon,  6,000  stand  of 
arms,  five  gun-boats  and  ammunition  and  stores  to  the 
amount  of  $1,000. 

Tecumseh  had  fallen,  and  thus  died  one  of  the 
greatest  of  Ohio's  Great  Indian  Chiefs.  So  ended  the 
campaign  of  the  west.  The  Indian  Confederacy  was 
broken  forever.  No  more  was  there  to  be  the  ringing 
war-whoop,  the  mid-night  attack,  the  glide  of  the 
hatchet,  the  moans  of  outraged  womanhood,  the  child- 
ish cries  of  terror,  or  the  manly  yell  of  despair. 

Tecumseh  was  born  too  late.  Had  he  been  fifty 
years  earlier,  Ohio  would  have  a  different  tale  to  tell. 

Tecumseh  was  brave,  generous,  humane,  eloquent, 
untiring,  vigorous  and  enthusiastic.  He  felt  deeply  the 
wrongs  of  his  people.  Their  lands  had  been  stolen,  their 
camp-fires  in  the  beautiful  ''Ohio  Country"  had  gone 

210 


TECUMSEH 

out,  the  graves  of  their  sires  were  violated,  and  they 
were  being  driven  far  to  the  untroden  west.  They  look- 
ed towards  the  western  mountains  and  read  their  doom 
in  the  setting  sun. 


INDIAN  ELOQUENCE 

Among  the  various  tribes  inhabiting  the  Western 
Reserve  before,  and  at  the  time  of  the  first  arrival  of 
the  pale-faced  race,  were  the  Delewares,  Senecas,  Chip- 
pewas,  Ottawas,  Wyandotte,  Massangas  and  Mingoes, 

When  Moses  Cleveland  in  1776,  held  a  peace  talk, 
or  treaty  with  the  Indians,  preparatory  to  commencing 
the  original  survey  of  the  territory,  he  had  a  confer- 
ence with  over  one  hundred  chiefs.  Among  these  were 
many  able  leaders,  men  noted  for  their  ability  as  war- 
riors and  that  more  pacific  art  of  oratory  and  logic. 
When  we  stop  to  consider  that  at  one  time  or  another 
such  men  as  Pontiac,  Black  Hawk,  Logan,  Seneca  and 
Captain  Pipe,  made  their  home  here,  we  are  impressed 
by  the  fact  that  as  in  the  more  modern  times,  the  West- 
em  Reserve  has  had  more  than  her  share  of  eloquent, 
able  and  trustworthy  chiefs. 

After  the  War  of  1812  had  come  to  a  close,  a  few 
of  the  Indians  who  had  made  the  Reserve  their  home, 
returned,  but  to  prepare  for  the  final  leave-taking  of 
their  beloved  rivers,  their  former  hunting  grounds  and 
the  graves  of  their  sires.  We  are  indebted  to  General 
Bierce  for  one  of  these  specimens  of  native  loquence. 
This  old  Chief  being  asked  why  they  were  leaving  Rich- 
field, raised  himself  to  his  full  height,  and  with  eye 
flashing  with  a  sense  of  tribal  injuries,  replied: 

"I  am  one  of  the  embers  of  an  almost  extinguished 
race.  The  grave  will  soon  be  my  habitation.  The  winds 
of  three  score  and  ten  years  have  whistled  through  my 

212 


INDIAN  ELOQUENCE 

branches,  and  the  Great  Spirit  is  calHng  me  to  the  spirit 
land." 

"My  people  are  like  the  scattered  stalks  that  re- 
main in  the  field  when  the  tempest  has  passed  over  it." 

'The  Great  Spirit  has  ordained  us  for  the  forest, 
and  our  habitation  is  in  the  shade.  We  pursue  the  deer 
for  our  subsistence,  but  they  are  disappearing  before 
the  pale  faces,  and  the  red-man  must  starve  or  leave 
the  graves  of  his  fathers,  and  make  his  bed  with  the 
setting  sun."  This  ended  the  once  powerful  race  of 
Indians  in  Richfield. 

Black  Bird,  an  Ottawa  Chief,  of  The  Reserve,  thus 
discoursed  of  his  people: 

*T  feel  as  well  as  you,  for  our  poor  brethren  buried 
in  sorrows  and  in  tears,  and  enshrouded  as  to  their 
future  prospects  in  gloom.  It  is  enough  to  break  down 
the  stoutest  spirits.  I  wish  to  know  the  result  of  the 
treaty  made  in  1836 ;  and  I  ask  what  profit  have  we  de- 
rived from  converting  our  valuable  soil,  and  beloved 
native  home  into  specie?  Nothing,  and  worse  than 
nothing.  Our  people  have  been  divided  and  sub-divid- 
ed. Some  have  fled  to  Canada  to  find  shelter  under  the 
British  Crown.  All  forms  of  vice  and  wickedness  have 
been  brought  upon  us,  and  resulting  in  ruin  to  both 
body  and  soul,  as  a  result  of  the  treaty.  Our  people 
have  indulged  in  the  excessive  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  which  has  caused  much  discontent  and  discour- 
agement and  has  proved  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  improving  their  condition ;  which  did  not  exist  prev- 
ious to  the  treaty.  This  treaty  was  made  thru  the 
ignorance  of  our  people.  They  have  been  cheated  out 
of  their  lands  by  the  crafty  and  cunning  management 

213 


INDIAN  ELOQUENCE 

of  the  pale  faces.  Land  enough  was  not  left  our  people 
on  which  to  spread  a  blanket.  True  some  of  our  people 
were  pious  and  good  but  they  were  not  wise." 

"1  have  only  learned  to  express  my  thoughts  bet- 
ter and  in  a  stranger  language.  I  have  always  felt  for 
my  people  as  I  do  now — and  have  loved  my  country  and 
my  brethren  as  far  back  as  my  memory  extends." 

"To  remain  in  ignorance  I  could  no  longer  endure, 
and  be  contented.  I  was  much  troubled  in  my  heart. 
The  more  I  reflected  the  more  clearly  I  saw  the  condi- 
tion of  my  beloved  country,  and  the  doings  of  the 
whites  to  my  countrymen.  Everj^thing  spoke  a  sad 
language  to  me,  as  my  reasoning  powers  became  ma- 
tured and  stronger.  In  solitude  I  sat  on  the  shores  of 
the  Michigan,  while  the  glorious  sun  sinking  in  the  vast 
region  of  waters  darted  his  radiant  beams  upon  the 
sleepy  expanse,  as  in  the  days  of  boyhood  I  sat  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Muskingum,  with  my  little  companions 
enjoying  our  beloved  forest  home." 

Of  the  Seneca  Chief,  Peter  Wilson,  Mr.  Bissel,  of 
Twinsburg,  who  so  lovingly  educated  him  at  his  own 
expense  at  the  Twinsburg  Institute,  says: 

"That  the  quality  of  his  eloquence,  the  unusual 
power  of  his  intellect  and  the  force  of  his  delivery,  re- 
sembled in  a  marked  manner  those  of  Daniel  Webster." 
Gen.  Bierce  relates  of  him :  "At  the  celebration  of  the 
completion  of  the  N.  Y.  &  E.  R.  R.  Wilson  was  present 
and  delivered  one  of  the  most  interesting  addresses  that 
was  made  on  that  occasion.  Mr.  Loder,  Superintendent 
of  the  road,  remarked  that"  he  would  cheerfully  ex- 
change what  skill  he  had  in  engineering  for  the  elo- 
quence of  Peter  Wilson,  the  Seneca  Chieftain." 

214 


INDIAN  ELOQUENCE 

Logan  the  Mingo,  Lagon  the  Chief,  had  his  home, 
or  at  least  one  of  them,  at  ''Mingotown,"  on  the  muddy 
Cuyahoga.  Much  has  been  said  and  written  of  him, 
but  among  all  things  the  words  of  Thomas  Jefferson 
will  bear  repeating: 

*'I  may  challenge  the  whole  orations  of  Demos- 
thenes and  Cicero,  and  of  any  more  eminent  orator,  if 
Europe  has  furnished  any  more  eminent,  to  produce  a 
single  passage  superior  to  the  speech  of  Logan,  a  Mingo 
Chief,  to  Lord  Dunmore,  when  governor  of  this  State." 

"I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say,  if  ever  he  enter- 
ed Logan's  cabin  hungry,  and  he  gave  him  not  meat; 
if  he  ever  came  cold  and  naked  and  he  clothed  him  not. 
During  the  course  of  the  last  long  and  bloody  war, 
Logan  remained  idle  in  his  cabin,  an  advocate  for  peace. 
Such  was  my  love  for  the  whites  that  my  country-men 
pointed  as  they  passed  and  said — 

"Logan  is  the  friend  of  the  white  men." 

I  have  even  thought  to  have  lived  with  you,  but 
for  the  injuries  of  one  man.  Colonel  Cresap,  the  last 
spring,  in  cold  blood,  and  unprovoked,  murdered  all  the 
relatives  of  Logan,  not  even  sparing  my  women  and 
children.  There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood  in  the 
veins  of  any  living  creature.  This  called  upon  me  for 
revenge.  I  have  sought  it ;  I  have  killed.  I  have  glutted 
my  vengeance;  for  my  country  I  rejoice  at  the  beams 
of  peace.  But  do  not  harbor  a  thought  that  mine  is 
the  joy  of  fear — Logan  never  felt  fear.  He  will  not 
turn  on  his  heel  to  save  his  life.  Who  is  there  to  mourn 
for  Logan?  Not  one."  The  cry  of  Logan  has  become 
almost  immortal.  It  has  been  ringing  down  the  years 
of  time,  centuries  do  not  dim  it,  and  it  will  continue  to 

215 


INDIAN  ELOQUENCE 

ring  and  sound  down  the  aisles  of  ages,  carrying  with 
it  the  unmistakable  sense  of  the  white  man's  cruel  per- 
fidy, unfaithfulness  and  crime  to  Logan  the  Mingo, 
"Logan  the  white  man's  friend",  Logan,  the  untutored 
savage.  A  historian  of  the  state  has  called  him  "Logan 
the  demon,"  but  if  he  later  became  a  demon  it  was  a 
white  man  that  made  him  so.  It  was  a  case  of  a  savage 
practicing  love,  mercy,  charity  and  helpfulness  on 
the  one  side,  on  the  other,  a  rude  civilization  bearing 
Christ's  banner,  inscribed  thereon  "As  ye  would  have 
done  unto  you,  do  ye  so  even  unto  them,"  and  yet,  prac- 
ticing savage  cruelty  and  crime,  and  the  white  man's 
bad  faith. 

Capt.  Pipe,  whose  village  lay  at  the  southern  port- 
age between  the  Tuscarawas  and  the  Cuyahoga,  was 
a  noted  orator,  "an  old  man  eloquent".  Whites  who 
have  heard  his  harangues  to  the  Delawares  have  all 
testified  that  in  one  moment  he  could  melt  them  all  into 
tears,  and  the  next,  fill  them  with  frenzy  and  the  spirit 
of  war. 

All  readers  of  history  know  that  Pontiac  was  elo- 
quent and  powerful  in  debate  before  all  savages,  yet, 
the  first  time  he  came  before  the  lime-light  of  public 
opinion  he  came  from  his  little  Cuyahoga  village  and 
said  to  Major  Rogers  in  his  encampment  where  Cleve- 
land now  lies — 

"I  stand  in  your  path  until  tomorrow  morning." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  effort  has  ever  been 
made  to  save  from  oblivion  the  eloquent  sayings  of  the 
orators  of  the  red  race  of  the  Western  Reserve. 

We  find  another  eloquent  chief  weeping  on  the 
banks  of  the  Cuyahoga,  above  the  graves  of  his  sires, 

216 


INDIAN  ELOQUENCE 

and  as  a  gracious  favor  granted  him  by  the  U.  S.  War 
Department,  whose  prisoner  he  was ;  and  from  history 
thought  worthy  to  name  one  of  our  country's  wars — a 
war  in  which  both  Abraham  Lincoln  and  U.  S.  Grant 
served — the  Black  Hawk  War. 


INDIAN  RELIGIOUS  FESTIVALS 

It  is  verj'  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  early  set- 
tlers on  the  Reserve  did  not  observe  and  keep  a  record 
of  the  festivals  and  dances  of  the  Indians,  here,  at  that 
time.  But  the  fact  was  the  pioneers  were  too  busy 
with  their  own  affairs  to  bother  themselves  with  other 
p^;)ples. 

A  few  Indians  yet  remained  in  the  Mahoning  Val- 
ley up  to  about  the  time  of  the  close  of  the  last  war 
with  Great  Britain.  They  were  peaceful  and  did  not 
disturb  the  Whites. 

There  was  an  Indian  Village  on  the  West  bank  of 
Pymatuning  Creek.  They  were  Chippewas,  and  their 
Chief,  John  Omic,  was  of  a  sour,  savage  disposition. 
The  totem  of  this  tribe  was  the  venomous  black  rattle- 
snake called  the  Massasanga.  This  chief's  son,  Devil 
Poc-con,  was  hung  in  Cleveland,  June  26,  1812,  being 
one  of,  if  not  the  first,  criminal  execution  on  the  West- 
ern Reserve.  The  crime  committed  was  the  murder  of 
two  trappers,  Buel  and  Gibbs.  The  strange  part  of  the 
affair  was  that  Devil  Poc-con  was  tried  in  his  father's 
name,  Omic,  sentenced  in  his  name  and  hung  in  his 
name. 

This  feeble  remnant  of  a  once  great  tribe,  abandon- 
ed their  village  on  the  banks  of  the  Pymatuning,  in  the 
fall  of  1810,  and  removed  to  the  southern  shore  of  Lake 
Erie. 

''Burning  the  White  Dog  was  their  annual  religious 
festival  and  to  this  they  always  invited  white  men.  The 

218 


RELIGIOUS  FESTIVALS 

sacrifice  was  offered  each  year,  in  a  certain  spot  in  the 
northeast  part  of  the  township  and  the  country  was 
hunted  over  to  find  a  dog  purely  white  for  the  offering. 
A  pole  was  supported  at  either  end  by  forked  sticks  set 
firmly  in  the  ground ;  beneath  it  were  placed  wood  and 
kindling  for  the  fire.  The  dog  was  carefully  bound  with 
thongs,  passed  over  the  poles  in  such  a  way  that  the 
victim  could  be  raised  or  lowered  at  will.  Whiskey  and 
food  were  also  provided,  and  as  the  dusky  band  as- 
sembled, their  weapons  were  stacked  and  a  guard  placed 
over  them,  so  that  no  one  in  a  moment  of  excitement 
should  seize  a  weapon  for  retaliation,  or  destruction. 
The  fire  was  kindled,  and  as  soon  as  everything  was 
ready  a  circle  of  these  swarthy  men  of  the  forest  was 
formed,  the  red  worshippers  danced  slowly  around  the 
altar,  mingling  their  wailing  songs  with  the  beating  of 
rude  drums,  the  victim  was  lowered  into  the  flames, 
then  raised  at  intervals  and  thus  tortured  until  life  was 
extinct. 

Attempts,  it  is  said  were  made  to  Christianize 
them ;  but  at  last,  very  many  of  them  having  fallen  vic- 
tims to  the  smallpox,  they  thought  the  Great  Spirit 
frowned  upon  them  for  staying  here,  so  the  survivors 
began  their  migrating  in  1810. 

''Slowly  and  sadly  they  climbed  the  distant  moun- 
tains, and  read  their  doom  in  the  land  of  the  Setting 
Sun." 


THE  MORAVIAN  MISSIONS  ON  THE 
CUYAHOGA  AND  TUSCARAWAS. 


"Ohio,  I  love  thee  for  deeds  thou  hast  done; 

Thy  conflicts  recorded  and  victories  won; 
On  the  pages  of  history,  beaming  and  bright, 

Ohio  shines  forth  like  a  star  in  the  night. 


j> 


"Like  a  star  flashing  out  o'er  the  mountains  blue  crest, 
Lighting  up  with  its  glory  the  land  of  the  west; 

For  thy  step  onward  marching  and  voice  to  command, 
Ohio,  I  love  thee,  thou  beautiful  land." 

—Mary  E.  Kail. 

The  history  of  the  Moravian  Missions  in  Ohio  is 
the  history  of  civihzation,  the  history  of  the  advancing 
power  of  the  whites,  and  the  dechning  power  of  the  red 
man  as  Lord  of  the  unbroken  wilderness. 

Rev.  Charles  Frederick  Post  was  the  pioneer  mis- 
sionary to  the  Ohio  Indians.  In  1761  he  visited  the 
Indians  and  built  a  cabin  at  Tuscaratown,  on  the  Tus- 
carawas River. 

The  Rev.  John  Heckewelder,  then  a  youth  of  nine- 
teen years,  arrived  April  11,  1762,  at  the  Post  cabin,  on 
the  Tuscarawas  River,  and  at  once  commenced  upon  the 
labors  of  his  lifetime.  In  the  spring  of  1771,  Rev.  Dav- 
id Leisberger  arrived  at  the  chief  town  of  the  Dela- 
wares  on  the  Tuscarawas,  and  is  said  to  have  preached 
the  first  Protestant  sermon  ever  preached  within  the 
present  limits  of  the  State  of  Ohio. 

In  1772,  came  the  Rev.  John  Ettwein  and  the  Rev. 
John  George  Jungman  to  the  valley  of  the  Tuscarawas. 

220 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

Schonbrunn,  the  Moravian  Town,  then  contained  more 
than  sixty  houses,  well  built  of  square  timbers.  A  new 
Missionary  town  was  built  on  the  Tuscarawas,  about 
eight  miles  below  Schonbrunn,  and  was  named  Gnaden- 
hutten.  To  this  new  town  came,  in  1773,  the  Rev.  John 
Roth  and  the  Rev.  John  Jacob  Schmick.  The  first  white 
child  born  in  Ohio,  so  far  as  is  known,  was  born  in  this 
town,  July  4,  1773,  and  was  named  John  Lewis  Roth. 

In  1777,  the  Rev.  Wm.  Edwards  came  to  Gnadden- 
hutten.  In  1780,  the  Rev.  Gottlob  Senseman  arrived 
and  was  located  at  New  Schonbrunn,  at  the  junction  of 
the  Tuscarawas  and  Coshocton  Rivers,  then  called  re- 
spectively, the  Little  Muskingum  and  Walhonding  Riv- 
ers. The  first  marriage  of  the  white  race  in  Ohio  was 
that  of  Rev.  John  Heckewelder  to  Sarah  Ohneberg,  a 
mission  teacher,  on  July  4,  1780.  The  first  church  bell 
in  Ohio  was  placed  on  the  mission  church  at  Schon- 
brunn, August  26,  1772. 

The  4th  of  July  has  been  a  notable  date  in  the  his- 
tory of  Ohio,  and  the  Western  Reserve.  On  July  4, 
1773,  the  first  white  child  was  born  in  Ohio.  On  July 
4,  1780,  the  first  marriage  of  whites  in  Ohio  was  cele- 
brated. On  July  4,  1796,  Moses  Cleveland  and  his  party 
of  fifty  souls  first  landed  on  Ohio  soil.  July  4,  1796,  the 
first  permanent  settlement  on  the  Western  Reserve  was 
started,  and  last  but  not  least,  July  4,  1796,  saw  the 
first  celebration  of  that  natal  date  on  the  soil  of  the 
Western  Reserve.  Not  only  this,  but  the  month  of  July 
seems  to  be  the  lucky  month  for  Ohio  ventures.  The 
second  survey  of  Ohio  lands  was  made  in  pursuance  of 
an  act  of  Congress  July  23,  1787.  On  July  13,  1787,  the 
ordinance  of  Freedom,  Ohio's  Magna  Carta,  was  passed 

221 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

by  the  United  States  Congress.  On  July  27,  1787,  the 
Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler  and  Major  Winthrop  Sargent, 
made  application  for  the  Ohio  purchase.  The  name  of 
the  new  settlement,  as  Marietta,  was  adopted  July  2, 
1788.  The  Massachusetts  colonists  arrived  at  Marietta 
early  in  July,  1788.  The  first  law  proclaimed  within  the 
territorial  limits  of  Ohio  was  proclaimed  July  25,  1788. 
Adams  county  was  organized  July  25,  1797,  Jefferson 
County,  July  29,  1797,  and  Washington  County,  July 
27,  1788. 

Was  this  all  an  accident,  or  was  it  the  hand  of  fate 
proclaiming  to  the  universe  that  Ohio,  the  seventeenth 
state  in  the  Union  of  States,  was  the  cap  sheaf  which 
was  in  the  future  to  hold  together  that  union  of  states 
for  all  time  and  for  all  eternity. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  article  to  treat  the 
Moravian  Missions  at  length,  only  so  far  as  they  effect 
the  history  of  the  Reserve. 

Complications  arising  out  of  the  border  wars  and 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  were  unfavorable  to  the 
growth  and  permanent  success  of  these  missions.  Ly- 
ing on  the  Indian  trails  north,  south,  east  and  w^est, 
they  were  favorite  places  for  w^arlike  bands  passing 
back  and  forth,  to  and  from  warlike  excursions  and  bor- 
der depredations,  to  stop  and  rest,  or  refit.  This  excited 
the  jealousy  of  the  borderers  who  looked  upon  the  mis- 
sions as  aiding  and  abetting  the  common  enemy.  Nor 
were  they  regarded  in  any  better  light  by  the  native 
tribes  who  could  not  understand  any  policy  of  neutral- 
ity or  of  peace.  The  warlike  tribes  accused  the  mis- 
sions of  sympathizing  and  aiding  the  whites.  This  com- 
bination of  circumstances  was  such  as  to  bring  censure 

222 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

upon  them  first  from  the  Whites,  and  again  from  the 
people  of  their  own  race.  To  add  to  this  trouble,  the 
Americans  and  the  British  were  carrying  on  a  war 
which  had  already  brought  about  the  birth  of  the  con- 
federacy of  the  thirteen  states,  under  the  name  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  The  Americans  accused  the 
missions  of  favoring  the  British,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  the  British  accused  the  missions  of  unduly 
favoring  the  Americans.  This  state  of  affairs  could  not 
last. 

Capt.  Mathew  Elliott,  an  emissary  of  the  British, 
in  command  of  some  three  hundred  hostile  Indians 
under  Capt.  Pipe  and  other  chiefs,  suddenly  appeared 
upon  the  scene.  The  Missionaries  and  their  converts 
made  no  resistance,  and  the  Tuscarawas  Valley  was 
cleared,  and  the  captives  marched  to  the  neighborhood 
of  Sandusky.  The  march  to  the  north-west  was  taken 
up  Sept.  11,  1781.  After  a  march  of  twenty  days, 
whose  milestones  were  those  of  suffering  and  priva- 
tions, they  reached  their  destination  on  October  1,  1781. 
This  place  soon  assumed  the  name  of  "Captives  Town". 
The  white  missionaries  were  summoned  for  trial  by  the 
British  Commandant  at  Detroit,  on  October  14,  1781. 
After  trial  and  being  found  guiltless,  the  missionaries 
were  allowed  to  depart,  reaching  ^'Captives  Town"  on 
the  twenty-second  day  of  November.  This  innocent  and 
harmless  people  after  being  driven  from  their  homes, 
their  schools  and  workshops,  their  gardens  and  corn 
fields,  were  left  by  the  British  to  starve. 

So  abject  had  become  the  condition  of  these  cap- 
tives, that  on  the  day  of  the  removal  of  the  white  mis- 
sionaries to  Detroit,  Schebosh,  a  native  missionary,  or- 

223 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

ganized  a  force  to  go  back  to  the  Tuscarawas  towns  to 
gather  some  of  the  corn  planted  at  those  places,  for  the 
relief  of  "Captives  Town".  The  party  was,  however, 
captured  by  a  force  commanded  by  Col.  David  William- 
son and  taken  to  Pittsburg  under  the  belief  that  they 
were  hand  in  glove  with  the  hostile  tribes  around  San- 
dusky. The  great  suffering  endured  by  the  women  and 
children  at  ''Captives  Town"  induced  the  Moravians  to 
make  one  more  effort  to  obtain  corn  from  their  aband- 
oned corn  fields  in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley. 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  left  the  village,  hoping  to  reach  the  mission 
towns,  secure  the  corn  and  hasten  back  to  the  relief  of 
their  starving  brethren  at  ''Captives  Town".  Upon 
reaching  their  destination,  they  divided  their  party 
among  the  three  villages  and  proceeded  at  once  to  gath- 
er the  corn  as  rapidly  as  possible,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
return  without  delay. 

Hearing  of  the  return  of  the  Indians  to  the  Tus- 
carawas towns,  Col.  David  Williamson  mobilized  some 
ninety  mounted  men  at  Mingo  Bottom,  three  miles  be- 
low the  present  town  of  Steubenville,  and  by  forced 
marches  arrived  at  the  vicinity  of  Gnadenhutten  on 
the  evening  of  March  5th. 

Meeting  Schebosh,  a  native  missionary,  a  man  of 
some  education,  of  great  native  ability,  and  a  man  well 
liked  and  looked  up  to  among  the  Moravians,  they,  in 
cold  blood,  killed  him  as  w^ell  as  another  Indian  and  a 
woman.  By  treacherously  promising  protection  they 
disarmed  the  Indians  at  Gnadenhutten  and  Salem. 

The  Indians  at  the  latter  place  were  brought  to  the 
former.     The  Indians  at  New  Schonbrunn  hearing  of 

224 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

the  capture  of  their  brethren  at  the  two  other  villages 
and  suspecting  treachery,  at  once  made  their  escape. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  said:  "The  history  of  the 
border  wars  both  in  the  ways  they  were  begun  and  in 
the  ways  they  were  waged,  makes  a  long  tale  of  in- 
juries inflictea,  suffered,  and  mercilessly  revenged.  It 
could  not  be  otherwise  when  brutal,  reckless,  lawless 
borderers,  despising  all  men  not  of  their  own  color, 
were  thrown  in  contact  with  savages  who  esteemed 
cruelty  and  treachery  as  the  highest  of  virtues,  and 
rapine  and  murder  as  the  worthiest  of  pursuits.  More- 
over, it  was  sadly  inevitable  that  the  law-abiding  bor- 
derer as  well  as  the  white  ruffian,  the  peaceful  Indian 
as  well  as  the  painted  marauder,  should  be  plunged  in- 
to the  struggle  to  suffer  punishment  that  should  only 
have  fallen  on  their  evil-minded  fellows." 

Here  began,  in  this  peaceful  Mission  Village,  on 
the  8th  of  March,  1782,  that  massacre,  which  for  pure 
devilishness  and  cool  barbarity,  is  perhaps  unequalled 
in  the  history  of  the  Indian  Wars. 

The  Indians  at  Gnadenhutten  were  bound,  confined 
in  two  houses,  and  were  well  guarded.  The  Indians 
from  Salem  arriving,  were  also  confined  in  the  two 
prison  houses,  the  males  in  one,  the  females  in  the 
other.  The  number  thus  made  prisoners  were  esti- 
mated at  ninety-six.  Dr.  Doddridge  says:  "Colonel 
Williamson  put  the  question,  whether  the  Moravian 
Indians  should  be  taken  prisoners  to  Fort  Pitt  or  be  put 
to  death.  Only  eighteen  men  of  the  entire  expedition 
voted  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and  mercy.  It  makes 
us  blush  for  shame  when  we  realize  what  brutes  these 
Indian  hunters  were."     Loskiel,  the  historian    of   the 

225 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

Moravians,  says:  "It  may  easily  be  conceived  how 
great  their  terror  was  at  hearing  a  sentence  so  unex- 
pected. However,  they  soon  recollected  themselves 
and  patiently  suffered  their  murderers  to  lead  them 
into  the  two  houses."  They  declared  that  they  were 
perfectly  innocent  of  any  crimes  against  the  whites, 
and  called  upon  God  to  witness  their  assertions.  They 
declared  they  w^ere  perfectly  willing  to  suffer  death, 
"but  as  they  had  at  their  conversion  and  baptism  made 
a  solemn  promise  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  they 
would  live  unto,  and  endeavor  to  please  Him  alone,  in 
this  world,  they  knew  they  had  been  deficient  in  many 
respects,  and  therefore  wished  to  have  some  time 
granted  to  pour  out  their  hearts  before  Him  in  prayer 
and  to  crave  His  mercy  and  pardon." 

All  night  long  ascended  the  prayers  and  hymns  of 
these  red-skinned,  primitive  Christians.  Their  suppli- 
cations, touching  and  child-like  as  they  were,  failed  to 
touch  the  hearts  of  their  executioners. 

Howe  says :  "With  gun  and  spear,  and  tomahawk, 
and  scalping  knife,  the  work  of  death  progressed  in 
these  slaughter-houses,  till  not  a  sigh  or  moan  was 
heard  to  proclaim  the  existence  of  human  life  within — 
all  save  two,  two  Indian  boys  escaped  as  if  by  a  miracle, 
to  be  witnesses  in  after  time  of  the  savage  cruelty  of 
the  whites  toward  their  unfortunate  race." 

One  of  these  devils  seized  a  copper  mallet  and 
killed  fourteen,  then  handing  it  to  another,  said,  "My 
arm  fails  me,  go  on  in  the  same  way." 

This  is  the  foulest  blot  on  Ohio's  fair  history,  and 
it  does  not  lessen  the  stain  to  say  that  it  was  commit- 

226 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

ted  by  Pennsylvanians  and  Virginians,  and  not  by  the 
natives  of  our  own  state. 

Owing  to  the  hostile  position  taken  by  the  tribes 
around  about  the  Moravians  at  "Captives  Town/'  it 
was  deemed  expedient  to  move  to  another  locality.  An 
invitation  to  establish  a  mission  on  the  Huron  river 
was  accepted,  and  a  settlement  commenced  July  21, 
1782,  and  the  village  named  New  Gnadenhutten.  The 
few  Indians  who  remained  at  Captives  Town  after  the 
removal  to  Huron  river  were  driven  out  and  dispersed 
by  the  orders  of  Captain  Pipe,  King  of  New  Portage, 
who  was  an  unrelenting  enemy  to  the  Moravians. 

New  Gnadenhutten  did  not  flourish  as  a  mission 
town  on  account  of  the  continued  persecution  of  the 
war-like  tribes,  and  in  the  spring  of  1786,  Messrs. 
Heckwelder  and  Zeisberger  abandoned  their  missions 
at  New  Gnadenhutten  and  embarked  on  two  small  boats 
at  Detroit  in  company  with  their  converts. 

"They  prayerfully  committed  themselves  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  Lake  Erie,  with  a  view  to  pitching 
their  tents  somewhere  on  the  banks  of  the  Cuyahoga 
river."  But  before  they  reached  the  river,  like  Brad- 
street  before  them,  they  met  with  a  terrific  storm  which 
compelled  them  to  return  to  Put-in-Bay  Islands  for 
shelter.  One  of  the  vessels  was  named  the  Mackinaw, 
the  name  of  the  other  is  unknown.  Here  they  remained 
until  the  storm  ceased,  when  one  of  the  vessels  was 
found  to  be  unseaworthy  and  was  ordered  back  to  De- 
troit by  the  owners.  They  then  placed  about  one-half 
of  the  party  on  board  of  the  remaining  vessel,  includ- 
ing the  v/omen,-  children  and  luggage.    The  remainder 

227 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

of  the  party  was  left  in  the  woodlands  on  the  shore  in 
nearly  a  destitute  condition,  and  with  but  a  small  sup- 
ply of  provisions.  They  resolved  however  to  follow 
their  brethren,  wives  and  children.  In  order  to  effect 
this,  some  constructed  rude  canoes  and  proceeded  by 
water,  while  others  traversed  the  lake  shore  on  foot. 
It  so  happened  that  the  entire  party  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River  on  the  same  day.  After 
uniting  in  a  brief  religious  service,  they  proceeded  to- 
gether in  charge  of  their  apostolic  leaders,  Ziesberger 
and  Heckewelder,  up*  the  river  as  far  as  Tinkers  Creek 
where  the  French  had  established  a  trading  post.  Here 
the  missionary  pilgrims  pitched  their  tents  and  named 
it  "Pilgrim's  Rest".  This  spot  was  on  the  site  of  an 
abandoned  Ottawa  village,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Cuy- 
ahoga River,  in  the  Township  of  Independence,  and 
some  twelve  miles  from  Cleveland.  Soon  huts  were 
built,  the  land  being  already  cleared.  More  land  was 
cleared,  ploughed  and  corn  planted,  so  that  by  the  last 
of  June  they  were  in  good  shape,  and  in  comfortable 
circumstances  once  more.  A  chapel  was  erected,  and 
at  their  first  meeting  therein,  they  celebrated  the 
Lord's  Supper.  This  was  dedicated  on  the  10th  of  No- 
vember. Soon  after  Heckewelder  left  for  a  trip  into 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  Rev.  Wm.  Edwards  filled  the 
vacancy  caused  by  his  absence.  Pilgrims  Rest  was  not 
designed  as  a  permanent  location,  but  simply  as  a  rest- 
ing place  for  a  few  years,  as  they  still  entertained  the 
idea  of  again  locating  on  the  Tuscarawas.  The  United 
States  recognized  the  claims  of  the  much  abused  Mor- 
avians, and  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  Congress  on 
August  24,  1786,  just  two  months  after  they  settled  at 

228 


MORAVIAN  MISSIONS 

Pilgrims  Rest,  inviting  them  to  return  to  their  homes 
in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  and  pledging  the  good  faith 
of  the  government,  its  protection,  and  aid  in  the  shape 
of  corn,  blankets,  axes  and  hoes  as  a  donation,  and  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  wrongs  they  had  suffered.  The 
opposition  of  certain  Indian  tribes  to  their  return,  tak- 
en in  connection  with  the  fact  that  the  Indians  in  the 
vicinity  had  become  hostile,  and  their  chief  had  threat- 
ened to  exterminate  every  individual  belonging  to  the 
mission.  Capt.  Pipe  thus  made  his  influence  felt  even 
here  in  their  new  home  on  the  Cuyahoga.  They  then 
resolved  to  remove  to  Black  River,  west  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga. The  following  spring,  April  19,  1787,  saw  their 
removal.  They  stayed  at  Black  River  but  three  days, 
as  the  Indian  Chief  who  ruled  that  particular  local- 
ity, ordered  them  to  depart  without  delay.  Like 
Christ,  they  could  say  the  "birds  of  the  air  have  nests, 
but  the  son  of  man  hath  no  place  to  lay  his  head". 
Friendless,  alone  in  a  strange  country,  these  red- 
skinned.  Christian  Pilgrims  of  the  forest  again  took  up 
their  line  of  march  to  the  Huron  River,  locating  in 
Milan,  Erie  CountJ^  a  few  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Huron.  This  place  they  named  New  Salem.  They  re- 
mained here  until  1791,  when  for  better  protection 
against  the  vicious  red  man,  they  again  removed,  this 
time  to  Canada. 

Through  all  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  troubles  of 
these  Christian  Indians,  can  be  seen  and  felt  the  malign 
influence  of  that  arch  conspirator  of  the  Cuyahoga 
Valley,  Capt.  Pipe,  King  of  New  Portage,  and  Cov- 
entry's sole  magistrate. 


FIRST  MALE  WHITE   HELD  IN  NORTHERN  OHIO 


THE  FIRST  WHITE  RESIDENT  OF  SUMMIT  COUNTY 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY  ON  THE  RESERN'E 

Col.  James  Smith  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  In- 
dians, in  a  foray  into  Pennsylvania,  in  the  year  1755. 
In  this  narrative  of  his  captivity  he  gives  some  inci- 
dents of  his  stay  with  his  Indian  captors  on  the  West- 
ern Reserve.  He  speaks  of  the  Canesadoohorie  River, 
which  was  the  Indian  name  for  the  Black,  which  the 
party  of  his  captors  struck  at  its  mouth,  and  finally  fol- 
lowed south  until  they  came  near  the  East  Falls,  which 
is  now  within  the  corporate  limits  of  Elyria,  where  they 
buried  their  canoe  and  erected  a  winter  cabin  which  is 
supposed  to  have  been  located  on  Wintergreen  Point. 
Smith  in  his  narrative  goes  on  to  say:  "It  was  some 
time  in  the  month  of  December  when  we  finished  our 
winter  cabin;  but  then  another  difficulty  arose — we 
had  nothing  to  eat.  While  the  hunters  were  all  out  ex- 
erting their  utmost  ability,  the  squaws  and  boys,  in 
which  class  I  was  listed,  were  scattered  in  the  bottom 
lands,  hunting  red  haws  and  hickory  nuts.  We  did  not 
succeed  in  getting  many  haws,  but  had  tolerable  suc- 
cess in  scratching  up  hickory  nuts  from  under  a  light 
snow.  The  hunters  returned  with  only  two  small  turk- 
eys, which  were  little  among  eight  hunters,  thirteen 
squaws,  boys  and  children.  But  they  were  divided 
equally. 

The  next  day  the  hunters  turned  out  again,  and 
succeeded  in  killing  one  deer  and  three  bears.     One  of 

230 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

the  bears  was  remarkably  fat  and  large.     All  hands 
turned  out  the  next  morning  to  bring  in  the  meat. 

During  the  winter  a  party  of  four  went  out  to  the 
border  of  Pennsylvania  to  procure  horses  and  scalps, 
leaving  the  same  number  in  camp  to  procure  meat  for 
the  women  and  children.  The  party  of  scalp  hunters 
returned  towards  spring,  with  two  scalps  and  four 
horses.  After  the  departure  of  the  warriors  we  had 
hard  times,  and  though  not  out  of  provisions,  we  were 
put  on  short  allowances.  At  length  Tontileango  had 
fair  success,  and  brought  into  camp  sufficient  to  last 
ten  days.  Tontileango  then  took  me  with  him  in  ordji 
to  encamp  some  distance  from  the  winter  cabin.  We 
steered  south  up  the  creek,  ten  or  twelve  miles  and 
went  into  camp." 

This  brought  Smith  into  Medina  County  where  he 
and  the  Indian  Tontileango  went  into  camp  on  the  east 
branch  of  the  Canesadooharie,  or  Black  River.  This 
was  near  the  close  of  winter  and  while  engaged  in  pro- 
curing game  in  which  they  were  very  successful,  they 
discovered  a  stray  horse,  mare  and  colt,  that  had  been 
running  wild  in  the  woods  all  winter  and  were  conse- 
quently very  wild  and  could  not  be  approached.  The 
old  Chief  however  was  resolved  to  have  the  horses  and 
proposed  to  Smith  that  they  run  them  down. 

Smith  says:  'Tontileango  one  night  concluded 
that  we  must  run  them  down.  I  told  him  I  thought  we 
could  not  accomplish  it.  He  said  he  had  run  down 
bears,  buffaloes  and  elks  and  in  the  great  plains  with 
only  a  small  snow  on  the  ground,  he  had  run  down  a 
deer;  and  he  thought  that  in  one  whole  day  he  could 
tire  any  four-footed  animal  except  a  wolf.    I  told  him 

231 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

that  though  a  deer  was  the  swiftest  animal  to  run  a 
short  distance,  yet  it  was  easier  to  tire  than  a  horse. 
He  said  that  he  would  at  all  events  try.  He  had  heard 
the  Wyandots  say  that  I  could  run  well  and  now  he 
would  see  whether  I  could  or  not.  I  told  him  I  had 
never  run  all  day.  He  said  that  was  nothing,  we  must 
either  catch  these  horses  or  run  all  day.  In  the  morn- 
ing early,  we  left  camp,  and  about  sunrise  started  after 
them,  stripped  naked  except  breech-clouts  and  mocca- 
sins. About  ten  o'clock  I  lost  sight  of  Tontileango  and 
the  horses,  and  did  not  see  them  again  until  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  As  the  horses  ran  all 
day  in  about  three  or  four  miles  square,  at  length  they 
passed  where  I  was,  and  I  fell  in  close  after  them.  As 
I  then  had  a  long  rest,  I  endeavored  to  keep  ahead  of 
Tontileango  and  after  some  time  I  could  hear  him  after 
me  calling  ''chako,  chako — anaugh,"  which  signifies 
"pull  away"  or  "do  your  best".  We  pursued  on,  and 
about  an  hour  after  sundown,  we  despaired  of  catching 
the  horses,  and  returned  to  camp,  where  we  had  left 
our  clothes.  I  reminded  Tontileango  of  what  I  had  told 
him ;  he  replied  he  did  not  know  what  horses  could  do. 
They  are  wonderfully  strong  to  run ;  but  withal  we  had 
made  them  very  tired.  Tontileango  then  concluded  he 
would  do  as  the  Indians  did  with  wild  horses  when  out 
at  war ;  which  is,  to  shoot  them  through  the  neck  under 
the  mane,  and  above  the  bone,  which  will  cause  them  to 
fall  and  lie  until  they  can  halter  them,  and  then  they 
will  recover  again.  This  he  attempted  to  do;  but  as 
the  mare  was  very  wild,  he  could  not  get  sufficiently 
near  her  to  shoot  in  the  proper  place ;  however,  he  shot, 
the  ball  passed  too  low  and  killed  her.     As  the  horse 

232 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

and  colt  stayed  at  this  place,  we  caught  the  horse  and 
colt  and  took  him  and  the  colt  with  us  to  camp." 

While  following  the  chase  in  this  hunting  camp, 
Smith  had  an  adventure  with  a  bear.  The  Canesadoo- 
harie  was  famous  among  the  red  races  of  Ohio  for  the 
number,  size  and  quality  of  its  bears.  The  Black 
Swamp  was  an  excellent  nesting  place  as  well  as  a  se- 
cure retreat  for  the  animal.  Even  after  the  red  men 
departed  from  the  Reserve  the  pioneer  hunter  made 
this  his  hunting  ground  when  after  bruin.  After  win- 
ter had  actually  set  in  a  bear  would  select  some  hollow 
tree,  or  cave  where  they  ewould  make  a  nest  and  lie 
some  three  or  four  months  in  a  comatose  condition, 
without  eating  or  drinking.  After  the  back-bone  of 
winter  was  broken  bruin  Vv^ould  wake  from  out  his  long 
sleep  and  come  forth  in  the  world  once  more. 

The  bears  in  ascending  and  descending,  would 
scratch  the  bark  off  the  trees,  leaving  unmistakable 
signs  of  their  occupancy.  Finding  a  tree  in  which 
bruin  had  its  habitation,  Tontileango  and  Smith  resort- 
ed to  the  following  tactics  to  arouse  Mr.  Bear  and  bring 
him  forth.  They  felled  a  small  tree  so  that  in  falling 
it  would  rest  across  a  limb  of  the  bear  tree.  It  was  the 
business  of  Smith  to  climb  up,  rouse  bruin  and  force 
him  forth  from  his  death-like  sleep,  while  the  Indian 
stood  on  the  ground  with  his  weapon  ready  to  drop  him 
when  he  should  appear.  They  once  found  a  bear  about 
forty  feet  up  in  a  large  elm.  The  chief  got  a  long  pole 
and  some  dry  decayed  wood,  which  he  tied  in  bunches 
with  bark  and  climbed  the  tree  carrying  with  him  the 
decayed  wood,  pole  and  fire.  He  then  placed  his  rotten 
wood  on  the  end  of  the   pole,   and   setting   it   on   fire, 

233 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

thrust  it  into  the  hole.  He  soon  heard  the  bear  snuff, 
and  then  descended  rapidly  to  the  ground,  seized  his 
gun  and  waited  for  bruin  to  come  forth.  Upon  experi- 
menting he  found  it  too  late  to  see  the  sights  of  his 
gun.  Dropping  the  weapon  to  the  ground,  he  seized 
his  bow  and  fitting  an  arrow,  sent  it  swiftly  and  surely, 
striking  the  bear  behind  the  foreleg,  bringing  him 
thundering  to  the  ground. 

When  Smith  was  captured  he  was  compelled  to  run 
the  gauntlet  on  the  banks  of  the  Allegheny,  opposite 
Fort  Duquesne  and  was  nearly  killed  in  the  attempt. 
After  he  recovered  he  was  taken  to  an  Indian  town  on 
the  Tuscarawas,  where  he  was  adopted  into  the  tribe, 
and  then  moved  north  into  the  Reserve.  As  the  process 
of  adoption  may  be  interesting  to  many  we  will  give  it 
in  his  own  words. 

'*The  day  after  my  arrival,  a  number  of  Indians  col- 
lected about  me,  and  one  of  them  began  to  pull  the  hair 
out  of  my  head.  He  had  some  ashes  on  a  piece  of  bark, 
in  which  he  frequently  dipped  his  fingers  in  order  to 
take  the  firmer  hold,  and  so  he  went  on,  as  if  he  had 
been  plucking  a  turkey,  until  he  had  the  hair  all  out  of 
my  head,  except  a  small  spot  three  or  four  inches 
square  on  my  crown.  This  they  cut  off  with  a  pair  of 
scissors  except  three  locks  which  they  dressed  up  in 
their  own  mode.  Two  of  these  they  wrapped  around 
with  a  narrow  beaded  garter  made  by  themselves  for 
that  purpose,  and  these  they  plaited  at  full  length,  and 
then  stuck  it  full  of  silver  brooches.  After  this  they 
bored  my  nose  and  ears  and  fixed  me  off  with  ear-rings 
and  nose- jewels.  Then  ordered  me  to  strip  off  my 
clothes  and  put  on  a  breech-clout.     They  then  painted 

234 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

my  head,  face  and  body,  in  various  colors.  They  put  a 
large  belt  of  wampum  on  my  neck  and  silver  bands  on 
my  hands  and  right  arm ;  and  so  an  old  chief  led  me  on 
the  street  and  gave  the  alarm. 

"Hallo !  Coo-wigh" — several  times,  repeated  quick- 
ly. All  who  were  in  town  came  running  and  stood 
around  the  old  chief  who  held  me  by  the  hand  in  their 
midst.  The  old  chief  made  a  long  speech,  very  loud, 
and  when  he  was  done,  he  handed  me  to  three  young 
squaws  who  led  me  by  the  hand  down  the  bank  into  the 
river,  until  the  water  was  up  to  our  middle.  The  young 
squaws  then  made  signs  to  me  to  plunge  myself  into 
the  water.  They  laid  violent  hands  on  me  and  I  for  a 
time  opposed  them  with  all  my  might  which  occasioned 
loud  laughter  by  the  multitude  on  the  bank  of  the 
river.  At  length  one  of  the  squaws  made  out  to  speak 
a  little  English  and  said:  ''No  hurt  you". 

On  this,  I  gave  myself  up  to  their  ladyships  who 
were  as  good  as  their  word;  for  though  they  plunged 
me  under  water  and  washed  and  rubbed  me  severely 
yet  I  could  not  say  they  hurt  me  much.  These  young 
women  then  led  me  to  the  council  house  where  some  of 
the  tribe  were  ready  with  clothes  for  me.  They  gave 
me  a  new  ruffled  shirt,  which  I  put  on,  also  a  pair  of 
leggins  done  off  with  ribbons  and  beads,  likewise  a  pair 
of  moccasins  and  porcupine  quills  and  red  hair,  also  a 
tinsel  laced  cappo.  They  again  painted  my  head  and 
face  with  various  colors  and  tied  a  bunch  of  feathers 
which  stood  up  five  or  six  inches  into  one  of  those  locks 
they  left  on  the  crown  of  my  head.  They  seated  me  on 
a  bear-skin  and  gave  me  a  pipe,  tomahawk  and  polecat- 
skin  pouch,  which  had  been  skinned  pocket  fashion,  and 

235 


SCIOTO  WAR  TRAIL  STATUE 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

contained  tobacco,  killigenico  or  dry  sumach  leaves, 
which  they  mix  with  their  tobacco ;  also  punk,  flint  and 
steel.  When  I  was  thus  seated,  the  Indians  came  in, 
took  seats  and  for  a  considerable  time  there  was  pro- 
found silence — every  one  smoking." 

This  was  followed  by  a  chief  who  made  a  speech 
adopting  him  into  the  tribe,  after  which  they  had  a 
feast  of  boiled  venison  and  green  corn. 

Smith  was  taken  to  the  Indian  town  of  Tullihas, 
on  the  Tuscarawas  River,  twenty  miles  above  the 
"Forks  of  the  Muskingum"  when  he  was  adopted  into 
the  tribe.  In  the  winter  of  1755  they  lay  at  the  "Falls 
of  the  Canesadooharie"  (Falls  of  Elyria  on  Black  Riv- 
er). After  remaining  here  some  weeks  they  moved 
eastward  and  northward  twenty-four  miles  "To  a  large 
creek  that  empties  into  Lake  Erie  betwixt  Canesadoo- 
harie (Black)  and  Cuyahoga."  This  was  Rocky  River. 
He  continues:  "Here  they  made  their  winter  cabin  in 
the  following  form:  They  cut  logs  about  15  feet  long, 
and  laid  these  on  each  other  and  drove  posts  in  the 
ground  at  each  end  to  keep  them  together;  the  posts 
they  tied  together  at  the  top  with  bark  and  by  this 
means  raised  a  wall  15  feet  long  and  four  feet  high, 
covered  with  linnbark." 

He  describes  their  canoe  of  both  birch  and  elm 
bark  and  says :  "This  vessel  was  four  feet  wide,  three 
feet  deep  and  about  thirty-five  feet  long;  though 
it  would  carry  a  heavy  burden,  it  was  so  artfully 
and  curiously  constructed  that  four  men  could  carry 
it  several  miles  from  one  landing  place  to  another 
or  from  the  waters  of  the  lake  to  the  waters  of 
Ohio."     (Portage  Path). 

237 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

Some  time  in  October,  1756,  another  adopted  broth- 
er older  than  Tontileango  came  to  pay  us  a  visit  and 
asked  me  to  take  a  hunt  with  him  on  Cayagaga."  (Cuya- 
hoga). This  older  brother  is  supposed  to  be  Captain 
Pipe,  whose  Delaware  name  was  spelled  Tanhangecan- 
ponye,  but  the  Ottawas  spelled  it  as  Tecanghretanego. 
"Tontileango  said  he  w^as  a  chief  and  a  better  man 
than  he  was  and  if  I  went  with  him  I  might  expect  to 
be  well  used." 

Smith  went  with  the  old  chief  and  was  introduced 
to  a  sister  by  the  name  of  Mary,  which  the  Indians  pro- 
nounced as  Marilly.  He  asked  why  she  had  an  English 
name  and  was  told  that  was  the  name  the  priest  gave 
her  when  he  baptized  her  and  w^as  the  name  of  the 
mother  of  Jesus.  He  said  that  there  were  many  of  the 
Indians  who  were  a  kind  of  half  Roman  Catholics.  Her 
Indian  name  was  Onolaska  and  her  tragic  death  is 
still  commemorated  by  Onolaska's  Tower  in  Ashland 
County. 

Onolaska,  sister  of  Capt.  Pipe,  was  in  love  with  a 
fine  young  chieftain,  who  desired  to  marry  her  but 
could  not,  because,  according  to  the  Delaware  law  Capt. 
Pipe,  the  head  of  the  family,  would  have  to  give  his  con- 
sent, which  he  would  not  do.  The  maiden  in  a  moment 
of  despair  threw  herself  from  a  pillar  of  rock  rising 
some  150  feet  above  the  surrounding  country.  The 
pillar  in  Ashland  County  is  called  to  this  day  Onolaska*s 
Tower. 

The  next  morning  after  the  burial  the  body  of  the 
lover  was  found  on  her  grave.  He  died  from  the  poison- 
ous juice  of  the  Mayapple,  self  administered. 

238 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

Smith  continues:  "After  remaining  here  a  few 
days  the  party  embarked  in  their  canoes,  paddling 
along  the  shore,  (Lake  Erie)  until  they  came  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Cayagaga,  (Cuyahoga)  which  empties 
into  Lake  Erie  on  the  south  side  betwixt  Canesadoo- 
harie  (Black)  and  Presque  Isle  (Erie)" 

"We  turned  up  the  Cayagaga  and  encamped ;  here  * 
we  stayed  and  hunted  for  several  days  and  so  we  kept 
moving  and  hunting  until  we  came  to  the  forks  of  the 
Cayagaga  (site  of  Akron).  This  is  a  very  gentle  river 
and  but  few  ripples  or  swift  running  places  from  the 
mouth  to  the  forks."  Here  the  Western  Reserve  sur- 
veyors came  with  their  boats  in  1796  and  built  their 
supply  camp  nearly  a  mile  up  the  east  branch  of  the 
river.  Continuing  Smith  says :  "Deer  here  were  toler- 
ably plenty,  large  and  fat;  but  bear  and  other  game 
scarce."  He  means  elk  and  buffalo  of  which  he  fre- 
quently speaks.  "The  upland  is  hilly  and  principally 
second  and  third  rate  land;  the  timber  chiefly  black 
oak,  white  oak,  hickory,  dog-wood.  The  bottoms 
are  rich  and  large  and  the  timber  is  walnut,  locust,  mul- 
berry, sugar-tree,  red  haw,  black  haw  and  wild  apple. 
The  west  branch  of  the  river  interlocks  with  the 
east  branch  of  the  Muskingum,  (Tuscarawas)  and  the 
east  branch  with  the  Big  Beaver  Creek  that  empties 
into  the  Ohio  thirty  miles  below  Pittsburg. 

From  the  forks  of  the  Cayahaga  to  the  east  branch 
of  the  Muskingum  there  is  a  carrying  place  where  the 
Indians  carry  their  canoes,  etc.  (Portage  Path — 163 
years  ago)  from  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  waters 
of  Ohio.     From  the  forks   (Akron)  I  went  over  with 

239 


SMITH'S  CAPTIVITY 

some  hunters  to  the  east  branch  of  the  Muskingum, 
(in  Coventry  the  Tuscarawas)  where  they  killed  sev- 
eral deer,  a  number  of  beavers  and  returned  heavily 
laden  with  skins  and  meat,  which  we  carried  on  our 
backs  as  we  had  no  horses. 

A  little  above  the  forks,  on  the  east  branch  of 
Cayahaga  are  considerable  rapids,  (Big  Falls)  very 
rocky  for  some  distance,  but  no  perpendicular  falls". 

This  party  w^ent  forty  miles,  according  to  their 
estimate  of  how  far  they  could  walk  in  a  day,  northeast 
to  Beaver  Creek,  near  a  little  lake  or  pond  which  is 
about  two  miles  long  and  one  broad.  (Geauga  Lake) 
Heckewider's  map  of  1796,  gives  this  lake  in  juxta- 
position of  both  Beaver  Creek  and  the  Cuyahoga,  and 
of  about  that  size. 

This  was  a  remarkable  place  for  beaver.  After 
various  adventures  in  pursuit  of  beaver  and  other 
game,  they  went  to  Big  Beaver,  and  in  March,  1757,  re- 
turned over  the  Fort  Pitt  and  Sandusky  Indian  trail  to 
the  forks  of  the  Cuyahoga  (Akron)  where  Smith  de- 
livered the  first  sermon  ever  delivered  in  the  Cuyahoga 
Valley  and  it  was  on  swearing.  He  did  not  believe  in 
profanity.  Smith  tells  of  two  hunts,  one  was  a  drive  in 
which  they  killed  thirty  deer.  The  other  was  a  fire 
ring  hunt,  in  which  each  hunter  secured^  ten  deer.  He 
does  not  state  the  number  of  hunters. 

Smith  was  only  eighteen  years  old  when  captured 
in  1755.  In  1759,  having  all  liberty  possible,  he  escaped 
and  returned  to  his  home  in  Pennsylvania.  On  his  way 
he  passed  through  Medina,  Summit,  Portage  and  Ma- 

240 


SMITH  S  CAPTIVITY 

honing  Counties,  over  the    Fort    Pitt    and    Sandusky 
Indian  trail. 

In  1786  he  became  a  Captain  of  Pennsylvania  vol- 
unteer Indian  hunters,  equipped  and  painted  as  Indians. 
He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution  and  afterwards  set- 
tled in  Kentucky  where  he  spent  his  declining  years. 
He  was  much  respected  and  was  for  several  terms  a 
member  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  as  well  as  the 
first  white  Indian  captive  held  in  the  Western  Reserve, 
and  consequently  the  first  white  man  who  resided  for 
any  amount  of  time  in  Northern  Ohio. 


INDIAN  HOLMES 

John  Holmes  or  "Indian  Holmes"  as  he  was  called 
by  the  early  whites,  was  a  white  man,  a  Frenchman, 
an  oddity,  one  of  those  strange,  migratory  squatters, 
whom  the  earliest  whites,  whether  explorers  or  set- 
tlers, found  living  on  the  Reserve;  this  class  of  men 
were  reticent  about  their  antecedents  and  but  little  was 
known,  or  could  be  found  out  about  them  or  their  past. 
In  the  earliest  records  of  the  Reserve  we  catch  glimpses 
of  Holmes  here  and  there;  now  here,  now  gone.  He 
represented  a  class  of  men  isolated  from  their  kind, 
leading  lonely  lives  of  the  natural  man.  Woodcraft 
and  skill  in  hunting  and  trapping  were  their  character- 
istics; leaning  strongly  towards  nature^s  heart,  they 
had  become  skilled  to  read  her  language.  Every  track 
on  the  ground,  a  broken  twig,  misplaced  leaves,  the  look 
of  the  sky,  the  sound  of  the  wind,  the  ripple  of  a  sudden 
wave  upon  the  waters,  were  signs  they  knew,  and  a 
language  that  told  to  them  strange  tales  in  the  wood- 
man^s  lore. 

In  common  with  others  of  his  class.  Holmes  had  an 
Indian  squaw  for  a  wife. 

Previous  to  1755,  the  French  had  a  trading  post  on 
the  Cuyahoga,  called  on  a  map  printed  at  that  date, 
'Trench  House". 

The  first  purchaser  of  land  in  Green  Township  was 
John  Kepler,  who  came  in  1809.  He  found  then  living 
in  the  township  the  families  of  John  Cruzen,  David 
Hartman,  Basil  Viers  and  the  Dixons.  William  Trip- 
lett  came  in  1807,  but  when  the  others  came  history  is 

242 


INDIAN  HOLMES 

dumb  and  tradition  saith  not.  But  whenever  they 
came,  Holmes  was  then  here,  Hving  on  WilHam's  Run, 
with  Williams,  an  Indian.  The  tradition  of  the  town- 
ship speaks  of  Holmes  in  the  following  language: 
"Johnny  Holmes,  an  old  fellow,  was  raised  with  the 
Indians  and  was  possibly  a  half-breed.  He  married  an 
Indian  squaw  and  they  lived  with  Williams,  an  Indian." 
In  1811,  when  hostilities  broke  out,  Williams  was 
anxious  to  leave  for  Upper  Sandusky,  but  Holmes  did 
not  wish  to  go  and  this  created  bad  feelings  between 
the  two.  Williams  left  with,  his  wife  and  after  two 
days  sent  back  for  Holmes,  reporting  that  he  had  reach- 
ed a  place  where  much  game  abounded ;  this  had  the  de- 
sired effect  upon  Holmes,  and  he  left  with  his  wife  for 
this  favored  locality,  but  upon  reaching  the  place  found 
that  Williams  was  still  feeling  savage  toward  him,  for 
at  supper  time  he  refused  to  let  Holmes  have  anything 
to  eat,  but  supplied  Mrs.  Holmes  and  his  wife.  This 
to  Holmes  was  a  very  bad  sign  and  he  left  that  night 
for  his  old  home  by  a  different  route  from  the  one  he 
had  previously  traveled.  By  special  agreement  his  wife 
returned  another  way ;  they  met  in  a  secret  place  in  the 
vast  wilderness  that  was  known  to  both;  they  were 
then  tired  and  hungry,  so  famished  that  they  were  will- 
ing to  feast  on  a  hedge  hog  which  Holmes  shot.  This 
old  fellow  afterward  settled  near  New  Portage,  and 
after  living  there  several  years,  moved  away.  We  find 
traces  of  Holmes  in  Coventry  and  afterwards  in  Nor- 
ton. Oliver  Durham  and  Benjamin  Dean  were  the  first 
settlers  who  came  to  Wadsworth  and  purchased  land. 
They  came  on  March  1,  1814.  Holmes  was  then  living 
in  Wadsworth,  in  a  cabin  in  Holmes  Hollow.     Holmes 

243 


INDIAN  HOLMES 

Brook  and  Holmes  Brook  Hill  were  named  after  him 
and  retain  their  names  to  this  day.  Holmes  was  very 
helpful  to  the  early  settlers  and  helped  build  the  first 
settlers'  houses.  On  March  17,  1814,  he  helped  to  "roll 
up"  the  first  log  houses  of  the  Durhams  and  Deans. 
The  others  at  that  raising  were  Basley,  George  and 
James  Cahow,  Jacob  Van  Hyning,  Theodore  Parmelee 
and  Geo.  Hethman.  Van  Hyning  then  lived  on  Wolf 
Creek  in  Norton,  and  others  in  or  near  the  present  site 
of  Akron. 

Holmes  once  saved  the  life  of  David  Blocker. 
Blocker  was  in  the  grasp  of  a  large  black  bear,  which 
had  Blocker  down,  his  fangs  fastened  in  him,  when 
Holmes  blew  out  the  brains  of  bruin.  The  Rev.  Edward 
Brown  in  his  ''Wadsworth  Memorial",  speaking  of  the 
man,  says:  'The  first  white  man  who  ever  had  a  hab- 
itation in  Wads  worth,  was  a  former  Indian  trader  of 
English  birth,  from  Montreal,  by  the  name  of  John 
Holmes,  who  marrying  among  the  Indians,  lived  among 
them  as  hunter  and  trapper,  and  was  known  to  the 
white  people  as  Indian  Holmes'.  The  remains  of  his 
old  cabin  used  to  be  pointed  out  to  me,  near  the  brook 
that  bears  his  name." 

Another  writer  states  that  Holmes  came  to  this 
country  with  a  stock  of  goods,  belonging  to  other 
parties,  the  goods*  were  lost  and  Holmes  being  afraid 
to  go  back,  remained  in  the  country. 

However  that  may  be,  Holmes  was  the  first  white 
settler  in  Wadsworth  Township. 


STRANGE  ADVENTURES  OF 
CHRISTIAN  FAST 

Christian  Fast,  pioneer  and  settler  in  northern 
Ohio,  American  soldier,  Indian  captive,  and  Indian 
brave,  was  a  typical  frontiersman.  Mr.  Knapp  says: 
'When  a  boy  of  sixteen,  Mr.  Fast  was  captured  by  the 
Delaware  Indians  near  the  "Falls  of  the  Ohio".  He  had 
enlisted  in  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  a  company 
of  two  hundred  men,  who  were  organized  for  the  pur- 
por-^  of  chastising  the  Indians  for  depredations  com- 
mit^^d  upon  the  frontier  settlements.  This  force  de- 
scended the  Ohio  in  boats,  and  some  distance  above  the 
fails  became  separated  into  two  parties,  Fast  being 
amoro:  those  in  the  rear.  The  advance  party  had  driv- 
en posts  in  the  river,  upon  the  top  of  which  they  placed 
dire^'^^'ons  addressed  to  those  who  were  following  them, 
indicating  the  point  where  they  would  find  the  anchor- 
age of  the  party,  who  would  be  in  waiting  for  them. 
These  written  directions  it  was  supposed  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Indians,  who  had  whites  among  them  com- 
petent to  read  and  who  thus  became  informed  of  the 
movements  of  their  foes.  The  rear  party  was  attacked 
by  the  Indians  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  while  the  men 
in  the  boats  were  making  towards  the  shore  to  cook  a 
heifer  they  had  killed.  The  largest  boat  in  the  fleet, 
in  w^'^h  was  Mr.  Fast,  had  landed,  and  the  others  were 
making  preparations  to  do  so  wh^n  the  attack  began. 
The  smaller  boats  immediately  put  up  stream,  but  the 
larger  one  was  hard  aground  and  could  not  get  off. 

245 


CHRISTIAN  FAST 

Of  the  one  hundred  on  board,  all  but  about  thirty  were 
killed.  Young  Fast  jumped  into  the  water,  receiving 
at  the  same  time  a  flesh  wound  in  the  hip.  He  swam 
to  the  opposite  shore  where  he  was  met  by  three 
Indians,  who  demanded  that  he  should  surrender,  as- 
suring him  of  friendly  treatment.  He  again  plunged 
into  the  current,  the  three  Indians  firing  at  him  as  he 
swam,  one  of  the  balls  grazing  his  neck,  momentarily 
stunning  him.  He  concluded  to  strike  the  shore  sev- 
eral rods  below  where  the  large  boat  was  grounded ;  but 
on  approaching  the  shore,  he  again  encountered  the 
bullets  of  the  Indians,  and  again  made  for  the  middle 
of  the  river.  Some  distance  below  he  discovered  a 
horse-boat  belonging  to  his  party,  and  at  once  resolved 
to  reach  and  board  it.  Just  as  he  had  succeeded  in  get- 
ting aboard,  the  Captain  received  a  wound  in  his  arm, 
and  waved  his  hand  to  the  Indians  in  token  of  surren- 
der. The  boat  was  immediately  boarded  by  the  Indians 
and  the  whites  taken  prisoner." 

**An  old  Indian  took  charge  of  Fast,  by  whom  he 
was  taken  "to  Upper  Sandusky.  The  prisoners  were 
divested  of  their  clothing  and  as  their  march  led 
through  a  rank  growth  of  nettle-weeds,  it  was  inde- 
scribly  painful.  Fast  becoming  maddened  with  pain  at 
length  refused  to  go  forward  and  bearing  his  head  to 
his  captor,  demanded  that  he  would  tomahawk  him  and 
thus  put  an  end  to  his  sufferings.  The  Indian  took 
compassion  on  him  and  restored  his  clothing.  During 
the  remainder  of  the  journey  he  was  treated  with 
marked  kindness.  At  Upper  Sandusky,  he  was  adopted 
into  a  distinguished  family  of  the  tribe." 

He  visited  the  lamented  Col.  Crawford  in  1782, 

246 


CHRISTIAN  FAST 

after  the  defeat  of  his  expedition  and  was  within  hear- 
ing of  his  groans  and  cries  while  being  burned  at  the 
stake  by  Capt.  Pipe. 

''About  eighteen  months  after  Fast's  capture,  an 
expidition  left  Upper  Sandusky  for  the  purpose  of  at- 
tacking the  white  settlements  and  fortifications  at 
Wheeling.  Connected  with  this  expedition  was  the 
notorious  James  Girty.  Fast,  who  now  possessed  the 
full  confidence  of  the  Indians,  was  also  of  the  party. 
The  expedition  reached  its  destination  and  beseiged  the 
fort  at  Wheeling  three  days  and  two  nights.  On  the 
third  night  Fast  determined  upon  attempting  to  effect 
an  escape.  Approaching  his  adopted  brother  at  a  late 
hour  of  the  night,  he  awoke  him,  complaining  of  thirst 
and  urging  his  brother  to  accompany  him  to  a  place 
where  they  could  procure  a  drink  of  water.  The  Indian 
pleaded  weariness  and  urged  his  brother  to  go  alone, 
insisting  that  no  harm  would  befall  him.  Thereupon, 
Fast  taking  his  camp-kettle,  steered  directly  for  his 
father's  house  in  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  about 
thirty  miles  distant.  The  night  being  exceedingly 
dark,  he  made  slow  progress  and  at  daylight  was  yet 
within  hearing  of  the  guns  of  the  beseigers  and  be- 
seiged. As  soon  as  daylight  appeared,  he  pushed  for- 
ward and  soon  discovered  a  fresh  trail  and  found  that 
about  thirty  Indians  were  ahead  of  him  making  for  the 
white  settlements  in  Washington  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. On  reaching  the  spur  of  a  ridge,  he  discovered 
that  the  trails  separated,  and  that  the  Indians  had 
formed  two  parties,  each  pursuing  parallel  lines 
through  the  valleys.  He  hoped  by  vigorously  pursuing 
the  middle  and  straighter  course,  to  get  in  advance  of 

247 


CHRISTIAN  FAST 

the  Indians  and  in  this  effort  he  was  successful.  Before 
night  he  reached  the  margin  of  the  settlement  in 
Washington  County,  the  Indians  being  but  a  short  dis- 
tance in  his  rear.  A  few  rods  in  advance  of  him  and 
advancing  on  his  own  trail,  he  discovered  a  white  man 
with  a  couple  of  bridles  upon  his  arm  evidently  in 
search  of  horses.  Placing  himself  behind  a  tree.  Fast 
waited  until  the  white  man  was  within  a  few  feet  of 
him,  when  he  suddenly  placed  himself  in  his  path  and 
gave  a  hurried  explanation  of  his  name,  object  and  the 
immediate  danger  that  threatened  the  white  settle- 
ment. The  man  was  paralyzed  with  fear;  he  could  not 
believe  that  the  savage-looking  man  before  him  with 
his  painted  face,  his  ears  and  nose  filled  with  brooches, 
his  hair,  all  except  a  tuft  in  front,  passed  through  a 
silver  tube,  was  anything  else  but  a  veritable  Indian. 
Mechanically,  however,  the  man  obeyed  his  directions, 
and  each  seizing  a  horse,  made  for  the  white  settle- 
ments with  all  speed.  They  gave  the  alarm  to  all  the 
families  in  the  neighborhood  and  succeeded  in  securing 
all  in  the  fort  except  one  boy,  who  was  killed  at  the  in- 
stant he  reached  the  gate,  which  was  thrown  open  for 
his  entrance.'* 

After  the  beleagured  fort  was  relieved  by  the 
retirement  of  the  Indians,  he  sought  his  father's  house, 
but  was  so  completely  metamorphosed  by  his  Indian 
costume  that  his  parents  could  not,  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time,  recognize  him.  At  length  his  mother 
recalling  some  peculiar  spots  near  the  pupils  of  his 
eyes,  gave  a  scrutinizing  look  and  at  once  identified  her 
son. 

In  1815,  Christian  Fast  came  to  Northern  Ohio  and 

248 


CHRISTIAN  FAST 

became  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  his  locality,  living  to 
a  ripe  old  age. 

''Following  Crawford's  campaign  and  the  captivity 
of  Mr.  Fast,  the  next  member  of  the  white  race  to  come 
to  this  section  was  the  renegade  Thomas  Green.  He 
was  a  Tory  in  the  bloody  Wyoming  Valley.  There  he 
had  been  associated  with  the  cruel  Mohawks  in  the 
wanton  murder  of  his  countrymen  and  to  escape  ven- 
geance, fled  with  Billy  Montour,  Gelloway,  Thomas 
Lyons,  Armstrong  and  others  to  the  wilds  of  Ohio.  He 
founded  a  town  among  the  Delawares,  which  in  honor 
of  this  renegade,  they  called  Greentown.  The  village 
became  well  known  in  Northern  Ohio  annals." 


« 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

*'He  listens  and  hears  the  rangers  come, 

With  loud  hurrah  and  jar  of  drum, 
And  hurrying  feet,  for  the  chase  is  hot. 

And  the  sharp  short  sound  of  the  rifle  shot, 
And  taunt  and  menace,  answered  well 

By  the  Indians  mocking  cry  and  yell — 
The  bark  of  dogs — the  squaw's  mad  scream — 

The  dash  of  paddles  along  the  stream — 
The  whistle  of  the  shot  as  it  cuts  the  leaves 

Of  the  maples  around  the  cabin's  eaves — 
And  the  glide  of  hatchets  fiercely  thrown. 

On  wigwam  log  and  tree  and  stone." 

— Whittier. 

Scattered  through  the  Reserve  in  its  earliest  days, 
were  many  professional  hunters  who  were  "Indian 
Slayers."  These  were  men  of  strong  passions,  whose 
hate  of  the  Indian  race  had  been  engendered  by  wrongs 
received  either  to  themselves  or  their  relatives  and 
friends.  These  men  never  hesitated  to  put  an  Indian 
''out  of  the  way"  as  they  called  it,  when  an  opportunity 
presented  itself  providing  it  could  be  done  with  impun- 
ity. The  historian  of  Green  Township  says:  "About 
the  name  of  Liberton  Dixon,  is  clustered  much  that  is 
romantic,  for  he  of  all  the  early  settlers  of  Green  Town- 
ship, has  been  handed  down  to  posterity  as  the  daring 
adventurer  of  the  early  day.  There  is  considerable 
added  to  the  credit  of  this  mighty  hunter  of  the  past 
which  will  not  bear  the  closest  scrutiny  by  the  investi- 
gator of  the  morals  of  the  Reserve  It  is  said  that  Lib- 
erton lived  with  the  Indians  for  several  years  until  an 

250 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

old  Indian  got  mad  at  Liberton  while  they  were  around 
the  camp-fire  and  took  after  him  with  a  huge  knife. 
The  famous  hunter  being  convinced  that  discretion  is 
the  better  part  of  valor,  fled  from  the  camp  and  was 
followed  by  the  Indian.  Liberton  accidently  stumbled 
over  a  brush  heap  and  the  brave  shared  the  same  mis- 
fortune. It  was  a  lucky  accident  for  Liberton  but  an 
unlucky  one  for  the  Indian  who  dropped  the  knife  when 
he  fell ;  Liberton  seized  the  weapon,  killed  the  savage 
and  decided  to  return  again  unto  the  haunts  of  civiliza- 
tion. When  on  the  way  to  the  white  settlements  he 
was  chased  by  the  Indians  who  had  discovered  the  body 
of  their  comrade.  Liberton  sought  shelter  from  their 
bullets  behind  a  tree  but  the  trunk  was  so  small  that  it 
did  not  satisfactorily  answer  his  desired  purpose  for 
seven  shots  were  put  through  his  clothing,  but  never- 
theless, he  escaped.  He  became  a  bitter  enemy  of  the 
red  man  in  consequence  of  their  treachery  toward  him. 
According  to  his  own  accounts  many  Indians  suffered 
death  by  his  hands.  But  the  event  of  his  life  was  the 
death  of  Wam-pe-tek.  This  savage  was  the  chief  of  a 
band  containing  about  forty  who  had  their  headquar- 
ters near  Turkey  Foot  Lake.  These  inoffensive  red 
men  never  harmed  the  whites  but  spent  most  of  their 
time  in  hunting  and  fishing.  One  day  Liberton  and 
the  chief  quarreled  over  a  bee  tree  which  both 
claimed.  The  result  was,  shortly  afterwards,  the 
Indian  was  missing.  Some  hearing  the  report  of  the 
rifle,  asked  Liberton  what  he  had  shot.  "I  shot  at  a 
deer,"  was  the  reply.  ''Where  is  your  prize"  was  the 
next  question  and  his  answer  was,  "I  missed  the 
animal."     Dixon  was  a  crack  shot  with  his  rifle  and 

251 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

seldom  missed  the  object  he  fired  at;  consequently  on 
this  occasion  his  statements  were  not  believed  and  it 
has  always  been  said  that  Wam-pe-tek  and  not  the  deer 
was  his  mark.  The  chief  never  appeared  to  clear  the 
mystery  and  the  supposition  is  that,  while  the  savage 
was  standing  on  a  log  near  Indian  Pond,  the  fatal  bullet 
struck  him.  Dixon  then  threw  the  body  in  the  pond, 
which  is  situated  one  mile  west  of  East  Liberty  and 
just  northwest  of  the  school  house  at  that  point.  This 
lake  is  said  by  the  superstitious  to  be  haunted  to  this 
day  and  on  stated  occasions,  in  the  evening  time,  the 
whoop  of  the  dying  chieftain  can  yet  be  heard  ringing 
through  the  forest.  It  is  stated  that  a  few  days  after 
the  chief  disappeared  the  ashes  of  a  fire  were  dis- 
covered in  the  woods  and  in  them  only  half  consumed, 
were  several  articles  formerly  owned  by  the  savage. 
The  band  of  Indians  suspected  Liberton  and  would 
have  killed  him  but  Dixon's  brother,  John,  interfered. 
This  brother  John  was  also  a  hunter  of  some  note.  It 
is  related  of  John  that  he  killed  a  very  large  wild  cat, 
at  a  swamp  west  of  Greensburg,  which  was  afterwards 
called  ''Wild  Cat  Swamp."  There  are  old  settlers  who 
declare  that  toward  the  end  of  Liberton's  life,  he  was 
afraid  to  go  out  after  night,  through  fear  that  the 
spirits  of  some  of  the  savages  he  had  killed  would  cap- 
ture him. 

'The  most  noted  hunter  ever  in  Summit  County 
was  Jonathan  Williams,  who  lived  for  short  periods  in 
several  of  the  townships.  He  was  very  skillful  and 
successful  in  his  hunts  for  both  man  or  beast.  The  dis- 
tinguishing element  of  his  character  was  the  intoler- 
able and  murderous  hate  he  bore  the  Indians.    He  lost 

252 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

no  favorable  opportunity  to  shoot  them  down  without 
a  moments  hesitation  and  in  consequence,  was  feared 
and  shunned  by  them.  His  constant  companions  were 
his  two  dogs  and  a  long  barreled  rifle  that  carried  a 
bullet  that  weighed  nearly  an  ounce.  His  dogs  were  so 
thoroughly  trained  that  they  obeyed  the  slightest  sign 
from  their  master  and  were  of  great  assistance  to  Wil- 
liams in  bloody  conflicts  with  bears  and  other  danger- 
ous animals. 

Williams  was  a  remarkable  man;  he  was  six  feet 
tall  and  his  movements  were  as  noiseless  and  as  grace- 
ful as  a  panther.  He  knew  no  fear  and  would  penetrate 
the  deepest  swamps,  no  matter  what  they  contained. 
He  went  dressed  like  an  Indian,  with  leggins  and 
moccasins  and  always  took  pains  to  have  his  clothing 
harmonize  with  the  color  of  the  forest  that  the  Indians 
or  game  could  not  easily  see  him.  He  wore  a  buckskin 
blouse  serrated  in  front  and  bordered  with  a  fringe  of 
otter  skin.  He  was  swarthy  complexioned  and  it  is  re- 
ported that  Indian  blood  ran  in  his  veins.  He  had  a 
wife  and  family  supported  by  his  rifle.  To  account  for 
his  hatred  of  the  Indians,  the  tradition  is,  that  all  his 
relatives  were  murdered  by  the  Indians  before  he  came 
to  Ohio.  In  consequence  of  which  he  is  said  to  have 
sworn^to  kill  just  as  long  as  he  lived." 

Williams  was  brought  up  in  Indian  Wheeling.  He 
could  neither  read  nor  write.  He  used  to  say  he  could 
have  had  an  education  but  the  school  house  was  to  dry 
for  him.  The  only  lesson  he  had  learned  by  heart  was 
to  love  his  rifle  and  hate  an  Indian.  On  one  occasion 
some  trouble  arose  between  the  Indians  and  whites  at 
Deerfield,  Portage  County,  regarding  a  horse  trade  that 

253 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

had  been  made.  An  Indian,  Mohawk  by  name,  to  retal- 
iate for  some  real  or  fancied  wrong,  shot  Daniel  Diver 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  put  out  both  his  eyes  without 
otherwise  injuring  him.  The  Indians  fled  to  Ponty's 
Camp  in  Boston,  but  were  pursued  by  the  infuriated 
friends  of  the  injured  man  under  the  command  of 
Major  Rogers.  This  company  was  joined  by  Jonathan 
Williams  when  they  reached  Boston.  "Ponty's  Camp" 
was  a  historical  Indian  village,  located  about  half  a 
mile  north-west  of  the  old  Tawas  Village  in  Boston. 
With  Mohawk,  were  several  other  Indians,  among  them 
Nicksaw.  These  Indians  were  discovered  at  Ponty*s 
Camp  but  they  fled  on  the  appearance  of  the  whites. 
The  Indians  crossed  to  the  west  side  of  the  Cuyahoga 
River  in  Richfield.  They  were  overtaken  on  the  Heman 
Oviatt,  Jr.,  farm,  lot  eight,  where  the  rifle  and  deadly 
aim  of  Williams  laid  poor  old  Nicksaw  in  the  dust.  He 
was  a  friendly  old  Indian  and  nothing  but  a  love  of 
barbarity  for  an  Indian  because  he  was  an  Indian  could 
have  induced  a  white  man  to  kill  him.  His  squaw  with 
a  pappoose  on  her  back  was  with  him  when  he  was 
killed.  She  hid  her  pappoose  in  a  hollow  log  and  made 
her  escape.  On  her  return  to  bury  her  husband,  she 
found  her  pappoose  in  the  hollow  log  in  fine  condition. 
The  Indians  buried  Nickshaw  on  the  ground  where  he 
fell  and  according  to  custom,  raised  a  mound  over  him 
to  commemorate  the  place  and  circumstance  of  his 
death.  After  Nicksaw  was  shot,  Bigson  and  his  two 
sons  surrendered.  This  happened  on  an  extremely  cold 
night  in  December,  1806.  But  without  pity  and  with 
the  cruelest  inhumanity.  Major  Rogers  bound  the 
Indians  and  carried  them  back  without  clothing  or  cov- 

254 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

ering  that  would  have  made  a  brute  comfortable.  Capt. 
Heman  Oviatt,  who  then  liven  in  Hudson,  said,  "Bigson 
was  brought  to  my  house,  bare-footed,  and  begged  of 
me  a  pair  of  mocassins,  to  keep  his  feet  from  freezing. 
I  was  going  to  give  him  a  pair  when  Major  Rogers 
threatened  to  put  me  under  guard,  if  I  did,  and  he  was 
taken  away  without  any." 

The  Indians  were  so  frozen  that  they  were  crippled 
for  life.  The  Indians  were  taken  to  Warren,  tried  and 
acquitted,  as  the  act  was  that  of  Mohawk,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  quarrel  between  him  and  Diver,  in  which 
the  others  had  no  part.  But  though  freed,  they  could 
no  longer  pursue  the  chase.  Bigson's  squaw  perished 
in  the  woods  after  his  capture.  The  poor  old  man  and 
his  sons  would  sit  for  hours  on  the  banks  of  the  Mahon- 
ing and  weep  over  their  fallen  condition.  What  made 
his  regret  more  painful  was,  he  had  ever  been  the 
friend  of  the  whites,  served  under  Wayne  in  his  battle 
with  the  Indians,  had  been  entrusted  with  important 
charges  and  ever  proved  faithful  to  his  trust ;  such  was 
the  gratitude,  such  the  reward  bestowed  by  the  whites 
on  their  poor  ignorant  red  brothers  during  the  pioneer 
days  of  the  Western  Reserve. 

The  Indians  were  plentiful  from  1800  to  1814  and 
were  generally  friendly  when  sober.  There  were  some 
drunken,  quarrelsome  Indians  who  were  proud  of 
boasting  of  the  number  of  "pale-faces"  they  had  killed, 
as  were  the  "Indian  Hunters"  of  the  number  of  "red 
skins"  they  had  slain.  Of  this  number  was  one  called 
Indian  Wilson.  He  was  notorious  for  drunkenness, 
boasting  and  threatening — constantly  hanging  around 
the  distillery. 

255 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

Indian  Wilson  had  been  at  Heman  Oviatt's  in  Hud- 
son and  got  ''squabby"  or  ''cockazy"  as  the  Indians 
called  it  and  on  his  way  back,  he  was  in  an  ugly  condi- 
tion. He  stopped  in  a  house  where  he  found  a  woman 
and  two  little  children  alone.  Seizing  them  by  the  hair, 
he  flourished  his  scalping  knife  as  if  intending  to  take 
their  scalps  and  after  frightening  them  to  his  heart's 
content,  left.  Another  account  says: — ''He  went  to 
the  house  of  Old  Mother  Newell  near  the  town  line  on 
Paines'  road.*  She  was  alone  and  noticing  his  approach, 
she  took  the  precaution  to  bar  the  door.  Denied  admit- 
tance to  the  cabin  which  had  but  one  door,  he  put  his 
gun-barrel  through  the  opening  between  the  logs  and 
satisfied  his  ugly  disposition  by  forcing  her,  with 
threats,  to  dance  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  until,  tired 
of  the  sport,  he  went  away.  He  had  scarcely  left  before 
Mrs.  Newell,  on  the  watch  for  some  passer-by,  saw 
Williams  coming  along  the  trail  with  his  gun  on  his 
shoulder,  as  usual.  She  called  him  and  related  the  cir- 
cumstances. Williams  waited  only  long  enough  to  hear 
the  story  when  he  pushed  on  after  the  Indian.  Wilson 
through  the  woods  hoping  to  avoid  an  encounter.  Wil- 
finding  Williams  on  his  trail,  left  the  road  and  struck 
liams  gained  on  him  slowly  but  surely  and  when  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  piece  of  "honey-comb  swamp,"  taking  an 
advantage  of  a  moment  when  the  Indian  was  off  his 
guard,  he  shot  and  killed  him.  Drawing  his  body  into 
this  piece  of  swamp,  he  thrust  it  out  of  sight,  also  send- 
ing the  Indian's  rifle  down  with  him.  The  disappear- 
ance of  Wilson  caused  a  great  commotion  among  the 
Indians.  The  Indians  suspected  what  the  whites  did 
not   learn   until   years   afterward   and   Williams   was 

•  256 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

obliged  to  be  constantly  on  his  guard  ever  after.  On 
another  occasion  it  is  said  that  Williams  while  hunting, 
when  the  ground  was  covered  with  a  slight  fall  of  snow, 
lost  his  bearings  and  found  himself  following  his  own 
track  in  a  circle.  He  observed,  upon  coming  on  his  own 
trail,  the  track  also  of  a  moccasined  foot  and  with  a 
hunter's  instinct,  recognized  his  pursuer,  he  took  to  a 
tree  and  shot  him  as  he  came  again,  following  the  trail. 

Another  Indian  of  the  same  character  as  Indian 
Wilson,  lived  down  on  Sugar  Creek,  in  "Northampton. 
He  often  boasted  of  his  exploits  in  killing  "pale-faces." 
He  had  a  large  number  of  notches  cut  in  the  handle  of 
his  tomahawk,  which  he  said  told  of  the  number  he  had 
killed.  One  day  this  Indian,  being  a  little  "squabby" 
came  into  the  house  where  Williams  was  and  said  he 
had  killed  so  many  pale-faces,  pointing  to  the  marks 
on  his  tomahawk,  of  which  there  was  ninety-nine — but 
he  was  yet  unsatisfied  and  he  should  kill  one  more.  The 
Indian  soon  left  and  was  never  heard  of  again.  Willi- 
ams used  to  say  significantly,  he  will  never  make  the 
hundreth  notch  on  his  tomahawk. 

One  day  an  Indian  came  to  the  house  of  Williams 
and  told  him  that  there  was  a  snake  on  his  trail.  The 
next  morning  before  going  out,  he  took  a  good  look 
from  the  little  window  of  his  house.  On  the  border  of 
the  clearing,  he  saw  an  Indian  watching  the  house  and 
then  suddenly  disappear.  Williams  took  down  his  rifle, 
looked  carefully  to  the  flint  and  priming  and  said  to  his 
wife,  "There  is  an  Indian  out  there.  Til  trick  him,  tie 
up  the  dog  and  don't  be  scared."  So  saying,  he  sudden- 
ly opened  the  door  and  before  the  Indian  had  a  chance 
to  shoof,  took  refuge  behind  a  bank  of  earth  near  the 

257 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

house.  He  hurried  a  short  distance  and  got  behind  a 
tree  and  with  his  rifle  ready  began  to  watch  for  his  foe. 
He  saw  the  Indian's  dog  coming  towards  him.  Sud- 
denly, the  savage  ghded  through  a  small  glade  on  the 
edge  of  the  woods.  Like  a  flash,  Williams  raised  his 
rifle  and  fired.  The  bullet  went  straight  to  its  mark. 
The  body  was  secreted  in  Mud-brook. 

Among  the  celebrated  Indians  who  used  Summit 
County  as  a  hunting  ground  was  a  chief  called  Beaver 
Hat.  His  tribe  lived  at  Apple  Orchard.  He  was  a  bit- 
ter and  unrelenting  enemy  of  the  whites  and  when 
drunk,  he  would  take  out  a  string  of  13  dried,  white 
men's  tongues  and  shake  them.  One  day  while  Geo. 
Harter  was  present  he  tried  the  same  old  game.  After 
he  had  left,  Harter  started  after  him  saying,  *T\\  go 
and  kill  a  buck."  The  report  of  a  rifle  was  soon  heard 
but  Harter  brought  in  no  game.  Beaver  Hat  was  never 
heard  of  more. 

Captain  Delawn  Mills  of  Portage  County,  was 
another  noted  Indian  Hunter.  He  was  an  ideal  borderer 
and  led  an  exceedingly  adventurous  life.  He  was  en- 
tirely fearless  of  consequences,  having  a  coolness  of 
temper  that  was  very  exasperating  to  an  enemy.  It 
has  been  said  of  him  ''that  one  of  the  blandest  of  smiles 
overspread  his  features  when  drawing  a  bead  upon 
some  cowardly  savage  who  had  waylaid  and  missed 
him.  He  was  a  man  of  little  education,  but  wa^ 
possessed  of  extraordinary  common  sense  and  correct- 
ness of  judgment.  Many  stories  have  been  told  of  Cap- 
tain Delawn  Mills  and  his  prowess.  If  one  were  to  be- 
lieve all  that  had  been  told  concerning  him,  one  w^ould 
be  led  to  believe  that  the  exclusive  business  of  the  rc- 

258 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

doubtable  Captain  was  to  hunt  and  kill  Indians.  Ac- 
cording to  some  authorities,  he  would  shoot  a  couple  ol 
Indians  and  throw  them  on  his  burning  log-pile  just  as 
he  would  perform  any  other  ordinary  work;  then  he 
pursues  a  party  of  them  into  a  swamp  and  despatches 
a  half  dozen  or  so  before  breakfast;  again  he  would  kili 
one,  put  him  under  the  upturned  root  of  a  tree,  cut  tns 
top  of  the  tree  off  and  let  the  balance  fly  back  and  thus 
effectually  bury  the  brave ;  or  again,  he  would  stick  the 
carcass  of  one  of  his  wily  foes  into  the  swamp  and  ram 
and  jam  it  down  with  the  butt  of  his  rifle.  There  is  no 
doubt  about  the  extraordinary  bravery  of  this  pioneer, 
no  doubt  of  his  hatred  for  the  red  savages,  no  doubt 
about  his  skill  with  the  rifle,  but  for  all  that,  he  was  a 
human  man,  with  a  loving  wife  and  a  number  of  child- 
ren at  his  fireside  which  prevented  his  being  an  Indian 
slayer  by  profession,  as  a  man  of  his  good  common 
sense  would  know  that  such  a  career  is  short.  His  son, 
Urial,  in  a  letter  dated  Aug.  22,  1879,  states: — About 
1803  an  Indian  got  mad  at  my  father  and  said  he  would 
kill  him.  Father  was  in  the  habit  of  hunting  through 
the  fall.  One  day  in  crossing  the  trail  made  in  the  snow 
the  day  before,  he  found  the  track  of  an  Indian  follow- 
ing him ;  this  put  him  on  his  guard.  He  soon  saw  the 
Indian.  They  both  sheltered  themselves  behind  treeo. 
Father  put  his  hat  on  his  gun  stock  and  stuck  it  out  S3 
the  Indian  could  see  it.  The  Indian  shot  a  hole  through 
the  hat  and  when  it  fell  ran  towards  father  with  his 
tomahawk  in  his  hand ;  father  stepped  from  behind  the 
tree,  shot  him  and  buried  him.  About  the  same  time 
the  Indians  were  in  camp  near  the  cranberry  marsh, 
afterwards  owned  by  Benjamin  Stowe.     Ashel  Mills 

259 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

was  hunting  cattle  and  came  past  their  camp;  an 
Indian  snapped  a  gun  at  him,  but  the  Indian  squaw  took 
the  gun  away  from  him.  Ashel  came  home  badly 
scared  and  told  his  story.  We  soon  saw  the  Indians 
come  painted  for  war.  They  came  into  the  house;  ail 
shook  hands  with  father  but  the  last,  who  uttered  an 
oath  and  seized  him  by  the  throat.  Father  caught  him 
by  the  shoulders,  jerked  him  off  the  floor  and  swung 
him  around.  The  calves  of  his  legs  hit  the  heavy  legs 
of  a  table ;  he  then  dragged  him  out  of  doors,  took  him 
by  the  hair  and  pounded  his  head  on  a  big  rock  and  left 
him.  The  Indians  scarified  the  bruised  parts  by  cutting 
the  skin  into  strips  about  an  inch  wide;  they  then  tied 
a  blanket  around  him,  put  a  pole  through  the  blanket 
took  the  pole  on  theirs  houlders  and  carried  him  to 
camp.  They  said  if  he  died  they  would  kill  father. 
While  he  was  confined  they  shot  Diver  of  Deerfield. 
This  created  quite  an  excitement  and  the  Indians  all 
left  for  Sandusky,  leaving  the  crippled  one  in  camp. 
Sometime  after,  when  father  was  away,  he  came  to  the 
house  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  and  asked  if  he  coald 
stay.  Mother  told  him  he  could.  She  did  not  sleep  any 
that  night,  believing  he  had  come  to  kill  us.  In  the 
morning  he  got  up,  built  a  fire  and  cooked  his  breakfast 
of  bear  meat;  he  then  went  away  and  soon  returned 
with  the  hind-quarters  of  a  fine  bear  which  he  gave  to 
mother  then  bade  her  good-bye  and  left." 

One  among  the  many  of  the  early  Indian  Hunters 
who  thoroughly  understood  the  value  of  the  Central 
Indian  trail,  known  as  the  Fort  Mcintosh  and  Sandusky 
Indian  Trail,  was  Capt.  Samuel  Brady  of  Pennsylvania. 
Ft.  Mcintosh,  near  the  junction  of  the  Beaver  with  the 

260 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

Ohio,  was  built  by  Gen.  Mcintosh,  in  1778.  It  was 
built  of  strong  stockades,  furnished  with  bastions  and 
mounted  one  six  pounder.  A  strong  garrison  was 
placed  within  the  fort  to  protect  the  settlements.  Oapt. 
Brady  had  command  of  the  scouts,  spies  or  Indian 
hunters,  as  they  have  been  variously  named.  This 
band  was  composed  of  Thomas  and  Samuel  Sprott, 
Alexander  McConnell,  Lewis  Wetzel,  Geo.  Foulks, 
Adam  and  Andrew  Poe  and  eight  or  ten  other  restless, 
active  border  scouts.  These  men  of  the  extreme  border 
were  generally  rough,  rugged  and  fearless.  In  1779, 
Brady  and  his  men  were  ordered  to  pass  over  the  Cen- 
tral Trail  to  Sandusky  to  ascertain  the  number  of  Brit- 
ish and  Indians  in  that  region.  A  short  time  prior  to 
this  his  brother  and  father  had  fallen  by  the  hands  of 
the  savages  and  Brady  had  sworn  to  avenge  their  mur- 
der. All  of  his  band  either  had  friends  killed  or  taken 
captive  by  the  Indians  of  Northern  Ohio  at  one  time  or 
another.  It  was  not  strange  then  that  these  men  who 
by  Geo.  Washington's  request  going  to  what  was  looked 
upon  as  certain  death,  should  dress,  paint  and  make 
themselves  up  in  true  Indian  style,  into  a  band  of  war- 
riors on  the  war  path.  All  were  versed  in  the  wiles  of 
Indian  strategy,  languages,  habits  and  mode  of  v/ar- 
fare.  Upon  his  arival  near  Sandusky,  Brady  secreted 
his  men  and  stealthily  approached  the  Indian  town 
with  a  selected  companion.  Here  he  found  about  three 
thousand  Indians.  They  had  just  arrived  from  a  suc- 
cessful foray  in  Kentucky  and  had  with  them  many 
blooded  horses.  After  various  precarous  adventures 
he  returned  home  without  losing  a  man.  From  this 
time  on  to  1789,  he  and  his  band  made  many  trips  into 

261 


HUNTERS  OF  INDIANS 

the  Reserve  over  the  Central  Trail.  About  this  time 
Brady  and  his  band  came  down  the  trail  to  the  Cuya- 
hoga; thence  down  the  "Portage  Path"  to  its  junction 
with  the  great  Scioto  War  Trail;  thence    down    that 

trail  to  Sugar  Creek,  some  twelve  miles  below  ''Apple 
Orchard."     At  this  point  they  found  an  Indian  camp 

occupied  by  two  warriors.  They  succeeded  in  shooting 
one  while  the  other  fled  into  the  forest.  From  here 
they  traveled  a  westerly  course  until  they  reached  a 
stream  now  known  as  ''Apple  Creek." 

Here  they  found  a  camp  containing  a  man,  woman 
and  boy.  They  shot  the  man  and  squaw.  The  lad  was 
some  distance  from  camp  when  his  parents  were  shot. 
He  cautiously  approached,  dodging  from  tree  to  tree; 
when  he  had  come  within  speaking  distance  one  of 
Brady's  men  told  him  to  come  in,  as  his  father  and 
mother  were  safe.  The  boy  became  alarmed  and  at- 
tempted to  escape,  but  one  of  the  sharpshooters  shot 
him  through  the  bowels  as  he  ran,  and  so  disabled  him 
that  he  was  caught.  The  poor  little  fellow  understood 
what  was  to  be  his  fate  and  clung  to  the  legs  of  one  of 
the  scouts  begging  him  to  save  his  life  and  take  him 
along.  A  blow  from  a  tomahawk  was  the  only  answer 
and  his  body  was  left  to  the  wolves. 


BRADY'S  FIGHT  AND  LEAP 

Captain  Samuel  Brady,  commander  of  a  company 
of  rangers  from  Chartier  Creek,  Pennsylvania,  in  the 
year  of  1780,  pursued  a  band  of  the  Cuyahoga  Valley 
Indians.  These  Indians  had  crossed  over  into  that 
State  and  had  committed  depradations,  murdered  and 
plundered.  The  Indians  in  their  retreat,  had  followed 
the  old  Indian  trail  running  from  Fort  Mcintosh  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Big  Beaver  and  running  from  thence 
west  through  Portage  County,  crossing  the  Cuyahoga 
in  Franklin,  at  what  is  called  the  ''Standing  Rock," 
thence  west  to  Northampton,  where  there  were  Indian 
villages. 

Brady  began  his  pursuit  which  was  no  doubt  cour- 
ageous but  not  very  discreet  in  leading  his  men  directly 
in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country.  He  however  made 
a  rapid  march  and  reached  Northampton  quickly.  The 
Indians  expecting  pursuit  were  ready  and  waiting  for 
him.  His  force  was  outnumbered  fully  four  to  one. 
The  savages  upon  his  arrival  had  completely  sur- 
rounded him  and  attacked  him  on  all  sides  with  great 
fierceness  and  his  forces  were  completely  routed.  The 
retreat  was  commenced  and  soon  became  a  flight. 
Every  man  was  for  himself.  The  Indians  singled  out 
Brady  and  leaving  all  the  rest,  a  chase  for  him  com- 
menced which  continued  without  interruption  until  he 
reached  Cuyahoga  Falls,  near  Fish  Creek,  the  great 
Indian  trail  divided,  one  branch  passing  to  North- 
ampton and  Bath,  the  other  south  to  the  "Great  Falls," 
called  by  the  savages  "Hoppocan."     It  was  on  these 

263 


UJ 

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BRADY'S  FIGHT 

two  trails  that  Brady's  men  were  divided  on  their  re- 
treat. At  the  Cuyahoga,  in  FrankHn  Township  in  the 
present  village  of  Kent,  just  north  of  the  bridge  on  the 
road  leading  to  Ravenna  the  Indians  had  extended  their 
lines  to  hem  him  in  and  with  loud  shouts  of  triumph 
thought  their  prisoner  safe.  The  river  was  here 
bordered  by  perpendicular  roeks^  the  chasm  being 
twenty-two  feet  wide.  Brady,  on  reaching  the  river, 
gave  a  bound  that  despair  on  one  side  and  hope  on  the 
other  alone  could  have  affected  and  clearing  the  river, 
gained  the  bank  while  his  pursuers  were  hunting  a 
place  to  cross.  He  ran  about  three  miles  to  a  lake  which 
ever  since  has  been  known  as  Brady's  Lake.  In  the 
water  of  this  lake  he  sunk  his  body  under  the  surface 
where  he  remained,  breathing  through  a  hollow  weed 
until  his  enemies  abandoned  the  search  when  he  made 
his  escape. 

The  Indians  did  not  shoot  him,  as  they  wished  to 
capture  him  alive  so  as  to  burn  him  at  the  stake. 

About  1840,  a  gun  was  found  while  cleaning  out 
and  deepening  Big  Spring  at  Cuyahoga  Falls.  This  is 
supposed  to  have  belonged  to  one  of  Brady's  men. 


ADVENTURES  OF  CAPT.  DELAUN  MILLS 

In  the  spring  of  1800  the  sons  of  Ezekiel  Mills  of 
Becket,  Massachusetts,  started  out  to  the  new  land  of 
promise.  Of  these  three  sons  of  the  good  deacon  Mills, 
Delaun  was  the  oldest,  being  24,  married,  with  three 
children.  His  brother  Asahel,  married  with  one  child, 
and  Isaac,  19  and  single  completed  the  Mills  team.  They 
left  the  hills  of  Massachusetts  in  two  covered  wagons,  a 
little  caravan  of  three  men,  two  women  and  four  child- 
ren. Their  motive  power  was  a  yoke  of  oxen  to  each 
wagon  and  after  a  journey  of  several  weeks  landed  in 
Youngstown,  then  a  city  of  five  log  cabins.  They  were 
financially  embarassed  upon  reaching  this  frontier 
hamlet  having  but  twenty-five  cents  between  them. 
About  this  time  Urial  Holmes,  the  proprietor  of  Nelson 
township  arrived  at  Youngstown  with  Amzi  Atwater, 
one  of  Moses  Cleveland's  gang  in  1796  and  '97.  They 
were  on  their  way  to  the  township  for  the  purpose  of 
surveying  it  and  were  pleased  to  hire  the  Mills  brothers 
as  ax  men.  Leaving  their  families  here  they  proceeded 
to  the  wilderness.  They  did  not  return  until  the  next 
September  when  Delaun  immediately  moved  his  family 
to  a  log  cabin  he  had  built  on  a  100-acre  tract  given  him 
by  Holmes,  thus  becoming  the  first  settler  in  Nelson. 

Captain  Mills  organized  the  first  military  company 
ever  formed  on  the  Western  Reserve.  He  led  the  first 
company  in  the  war  of  1812,  that  went  forth  from  the 
New  Connecticut  to  do  battle  for  home  and  fireside.  For 
years  he  kept  a  wayside  hostelery.  It  was  in  front  of 
his  home  that  his  company   drilled   and   encamped   in 

266 


DELAUN  MILLS 

tents  made  from  home-spun  linen  sheets  of  the  good 
housewives.  This  was  the  first  miHtary  camp  on  the 
Reserve  composed  of  Americans. 

Capt.  Mills  served  through  the  war  of  1812  and 
made  a  gallant  officer.  About  this  time  he  was  bitten 
by  a  ratlesnake  which  came  near  ending  his  career. 
Soon  after  being  bitten,  blood  commenced  to  flow  from 
his  eyes  and  nose  and  he  became  partially  paralyzed. 
The  usual  remedy,  filling  the  patient  with  whiskey 
saved  him,  but  until  the  last  day  of  his  life  he  felt  the 
effects  of  the  terrible  virus.  In  1818  and  again  in  1824, 
he  served  as  Captain  of  the  big  circular  hunts. 

Capt.  Mills  killed  the  last  Indian  killed  on  the  Re- 
serve. After  the  close  of  the  war  a  band  of  seven  re- 
turned to  this  vicinity ;  Mills  and  his  men  killed  six  out 
of  seven.  His  life  was  an  exciting  romance,  filled  with 
hair  breadth  escapes. 


f 

5 


ADAM  AND  ANDREW  POE'S  FAMOUS  FIGHT 

In  1782,  an  old  man  living  alone  in  a  log  cabin  near 
the  southern  line  of  Mahoning  County  was  robbed  and 
murdered  by  a  band  of  Wyandot  Indians  under  the 
(command  of  Big  Foot,  the  noted  and  gigantic  Wyandot 
chief. 

''Unlike  the  southern  Indians  the  villages  of  the 
northwestern  tribes  were  usually  far  from  the  frontier. 
Tireless  and  careless  of  all  hardships,  they  came  silent- 
ly out  of  unknown  forests,  robbed  and  murdered,  and 
then  disappeared  again  into  the  fathomless  depths  of 
the  woods.  Half  of  the  terror  that  they  caused  v.  as  due 
to  the  extreme  difficulty  in  following  them  and  the  ab- 
solute impossibility  of  forecasting  their  attacks,  with- 
out warning  and  unseen  until  the  moment  they  dealt 
their  death  stroke." 

As  soon  as  the  murder  was  discovered  by  the 
settlers,  a  band  of  eight  pioneer  riflemen,  led  by  Adam 
and  Andrew  Poe,  started  on  the  trail  of  the  marauding 
band.  Somewhere  within  the  limits  of  Summit  county, 
upon  ilie  banks  of  a  stream,  the  Indians  had  laid  an 
ambush  for  the  pursuing  "pale  faces."  The  rangers 
discovered  this  in  time,  sent  Andrew  Poe  around  to  the 
rear  of  the  Indians  to  spy  out,  if  possible,  the  well  laid 
plans  of  their  red  foe. 

Creeping  carefully  along  the  margin  of  the  stream, 
beneath  the  branches  of  the  overhanging  trees  he  dis- 
covered a  raft  near  a  high  cliff. 

The  raft  lay  closely  in  shore  and  Poe  at  once  sup- 
posed it  to  be  a  snare,  silently  cocking  his  rifle,  he  was 

268 


FAMOUS  FIGHT 

about  to  go  forward  when  he  saw  an  Indian  of  gigantic 
stature  and  with  him,  a  medium  sized  one,  both  slowly 
approaching  him.  The  large  savage  was  Big  Foot,  the 
terror  of  the  border,  a  warrior  to  be  feared  and  who 
boasted  that  he  had  never  been  defeated.  The  chief 
was  armed  with  a  rifle  and  was  evidently  on  the  lookout 
for  some  one,  but  at  the  moment  was  looking  away 
from  Poe.  Taking  advantage  of  this,  Andrew's  rifle 
was  silently  but  swiftly  raised  to  his  shoulder,  his  eye 
glanced  quickly  along  the  tube  and  he  pulled  the  trigger. 
A  dull  click  followed,  the  powder  in  the  pan  had  failed 
to  explode.  The  noise  made  by  the  gun  lock  at  once 
made  Poe's  whereabouts  known. 

The  Indians  were  at  the  foot  of  the  bank,  while 
the  white  man  was  on  the  bank  directly  above  them. 
Dropping  his  useless  rifle  he  ran  for  the  chief,  jumping 
squarely  upon  him ;  at  the  same  time  he  threw  out  his 
arm,  grasping  the  smaller  Indian  and  all  three  went 
down  in  a  heap  together.  The  small  Indian  twisted  him- 
self clear  of  Poe's  embrace,  ran  to  the  raft  and  then 
came  bounding  back  swinging  a  tomahawk  around  his 
head.  Big  Foot  by  this  time  had  succeeded  in  turning 
the  tables  on  Poe  and  held  him  fast  on  the  ground.  As 
soon  as  the  small  Indian  came  close  enough,  Poe  set 
one  of  his  big  feet  squarely  in  the  savage's  stomach  and 
he  went  to  the  ground.  The  big  chief  gave  the  little 
one  a  severe  raking  for  not  being  able  to  strike  Poe  on 
the  head  and  while  excitedly  talking  unconsciously  re- 
laxed his  hold,  in  a  small  degree.  Poe  taking  advan- 
tage of  this,  made  a  sudden  and  tremendous  effort  and 
broke  from  the  grasp  of  the  chief,  seizing  a  gun  which 
lay  a  little  distance  away,  promptly  shot  the  small 

269 


FAMOUS  FIGHT 

Indian.  Big  Foot  now  jumped  Poe,  straining  every 
nerve  to  down  him.  Both  realized  that  it  was  a  life  or 
death  struggle  and  put  forth  their  best  efforts,  wrest- 
ling here  and  there,  they  finally  stumbled  over  the  edge 
of  the  bank  and  both  went  rolling  down  the  steep  in- 
cline into  the  water  of  the  creek.  Then  each  put  forth 
superhuman  efforts  to  drown  the  other,  by  a  lucky 
move,  Poe  succeeded  in  catching  the  chief  by  the  hair 
and  forced  his  head  under  the  water  and  holding  it 
there  until  he  thought  the  Indian  was  dead,  but  on  re- 
laxing his  grasp  he  found  out  his  mistake  when  the 
Wyandot  lifted  his  head  and  at  once  renewed  the  life 
and  death  struggle.  In  trying  to  grasp  each  other 
again  they  staggered  into  deeper  water  and  were  car- 
ried off  their  feet  and  swiftly  rushed  down  stream. 
Each  at  once  released  his  hold  and  commenced  swim- 
ming for  the  shore.  The  Indian  proved  the  better 
swimmer  of  the  two  and  reached  the  bank  consider- 
ably in  advance  of  Poe.  The  chief  at  once  made  a  hunt 
for  a  gun  and  finding  one,  returned  to  the  bank  and 
drew  a  bead  on  the  white  as  he  attempted  to  pull  him- 
self up  the  steep  bank.  Poe  saw  his  danger  and  at  once 
dived.  Luck  followed  Poe  again,  for  the  gun  proved 
to  be  the  one  he  had  recently  shot  the  small  Indian 
with  and  was  empty;  but  before  the  Indian  could  re- 
load, Adam  Poe's  brother  came  upon  the  scene  and 
Andrew  cried  out  to  him,  ''Shoot  the  Indian!"  But 
Adam's  rifle  was  in  the  same  condition  as  the  chiefs, 
unloaded.  Big  Foot  seeing  this  cried,  ''Man  load  first 
kill!"  Now  again  began  another  three  handed  game, 
both  white  and  Indian  striving  to  see  which  could  get 
their  gun  loaded  first.    In  his  haste  the  Indian  dropped 

270 


FAMOUS  FIGHT 

his  ramrod  and  before  he  could  recover  it  and  get  his 
bullet  down,  Andrew  had  rammed  his  home,  taking 
deliberate  aim,  shot  the  Indian  dead.  Rushing  to  the 
bank,  he  offered  to  assist  his  brother,  but  was  told  not 
to  mind  him  but  to  scalp  the  chief,  who  in  his  dying 
agony  was  trying  to  roll  himself  in  the  water  and  save 
that  precious  possession.  In  the  meantime,  another  of 
Poe's  party  coming  up  and  seeing  Andrew  in  the  water 
mistook  him  for  an  Indian  and  shot  him  through  the 
shoulder.  Andrew  was  then  helped  up  the  bank  after 
which  they  held  a  short  council.  After  the  council  the 
party  started  for  the  rest  of  their  men  but  had  not 
proceeded  far  when  they  heard  the  sharp  crack,  crack, 
of  rifle  shots.  In  spite  of  Andrew's  wound,  they  all 
started  on  a  run  examining  their  rifles  as  they  ran. 
They  had  not  gone  far  before  they  arrived  on  the 
battle  ground.  Here  they  found  that  four  out  of  the 
five  Indians  left  had  been  killed,  while  the  other  had 
fled.    On  the  side  of  the  whites  three  had  been  killed. 

The  survivors  gathered  up  their  dead  and  bore 
them  back  to  the  settlements. 

For  the  small  number  engaged  and  the  large  per- 
centage of  casualties,  it  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  con- 
flicts ever  known  to  occur  between  the  whites  and  the 
Indians  within  the  limits  of  the  Western  Reserve.  Of 
fifteen  engaged,  nine  were  killed  and  one  wounded,  or 
two  out  of  every  three;  the  Indians  loosing  six  out  of 
seven. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  in  his  "Winning  of  the  West" 
differs  somewhat  in  his  account  of  this  fight ;  he  claims 
that  Poe  was  shot  by  his  brother.  He  also  states  that 
Rig  Foot  was  "one  of  the  most  powerful  and  redoubt- 

271 


FAMOUS  FIGHT 

able  warriors  in  the  Wyandot  tribe  and  that  his  com- 
panions were  choosen  for  their  known  prowess  and 
bravery,  they  had  many  times  worsted  the  whites  and 
did  not  deem  them  their  equals  in  battle." 

Several  years  after  this,  a  Wyandot  chief,  named 
Rohn-yen-ness,  was  converted  to  the  Christian  religion 
and  confessed  that  after  it  became  known  among  the 
Wyandots  that  Andrew  Poe  had  caused  the  death  of 
their  greatest  war  chief,  he  was  appointed  to  go  to 
Poe's  house  and  assassinate  the  white  enemy.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  Poe's  house  to  carry  out  his  plan,  but  was 
received  with  so  much  kindness  and  hospitality  that 
his  nerve  weakened.  "Poe  having  no  suspicion  what- 
ever of  his  design,  furnished  him  with  the  very  best 
that  his  cabin  afforded.  When  bedtime  came,  a  pallet 
was  carefully  prepared  for  their  Indian  guest  by  the 
hospitable  couple  in  their  own  chamber.  The  unsus- 
picious hunter  and  his  family  having  fallen  into  a  deep 
sleep,  the  Indian  had  now  a  fair  opportunity  to  accom- 
plish their  destruction.  He  thought  of  the  duty  he 
owed  to  his  nation,  of  the  death  of  its  most  valiant 
warrior  and  of  the  anger  of  his  tribe;  but  Poe  had 
received  him  with  so  much  kindness,  had  treated  him 
so  much  like  a  brother,  that  he  could  not  summon  a 
sufficient  amount  of  resolution  to  kill  him  and  in  this 
unsettled  state  of  mind  he  lay  until  about  midnight. 
Once  more  he  arose  from  his  pallet  and  approached  his 
sleeping  host.  His  sinewy  arm  was  uplifted  and  the 
murderous  weapon  glittered  in  his  hand.  Again  the 
kindness  of  the  sleeping  pioneer  shook  the  resolution 
of  the  Indian,  who  feeling  it  to  be  unworthy  the  char- 

272 


FAMOUS  FIGHT 

acter  of  a  warrior  to  kill  even  an  enemy  who  had  re- 
posed in  him  such  a  generous  confidence,  returned  to 
his  pallet  and  slept  till  morning." 

It  is  told  of  Adam  Poe  that  five  Indians,  all  rather 
drunk,  came  to  his  cabin  and  tried  to  force  the  door 
open.  He  sent  his  wife  with  the  children  out  in  the 
cornfield  behind  the  house,  remarking,  "There  is  a 
fight  and  fun  ahead,"  but  when  he  saw  the  state  the 
Indians  were  in  he  did  not  fire  at  them.  He  fell  upon 
them  with  his  fists,  knocked  them  all  down  and  then 
threw  them  one  after  another  over  the  fence  into  a 
promiscious  heap  on  the  other  side.  The  fun  then 
ended  and  Poe  called  in  his  family. 


BOUNDARY  LINES  OF  THE  FORT  McINTOSH 
TREATY  JANUARY  21,  1785 

The  boundary  line  agreed  upon  at  this  treaty  was 
as  follows :  "Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga 
River,  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  thence  up 
the  east  bank  of  the  Cuyahoga  River  to  its  lake  source ; 
thence  across  to  the  source  of  the  Tuscarawas  and  down 
that  stream  to  its  junction  with  Walhounding  Creek, 
near  the  site  of  the  old  American  Fort  Laurens ;  thence 
in  a  direct  line  south  of  west,  to  the  mouth  of  Mad 
River,  a  large  eastern  tributary  of  the  Great  Miami,  or 
Stony  River ;  (it  being  that  branch  of  the  Stony  River 
on  which  the  French  had  a  fort)  in  the  year  1752; 
thence  up  the  main  branch  of  the  Miami  or  Stony  River 
to  the  portage  across  to  the  St.  Mary's  River  or  main 
branch  of  the  Maumee ;  thence  down  the  southwestern 
bank  of  the  St.  Mary's  and  the  Maumee  to  Lake  Erie." 

''East  and  south  of  this  line  the  lands  are  ceded 
and  relinquished  to  the  United  States,  for  the  use  of 
the  people  thereof.  The  United  States  grant  and  re- 
relinquish  to  the  Indians  all  lands  north  and  west  of 
this  line  for  their  use  and  occupancy  as  dwelling  places 
and  hunting  grounds,  free  from  encroachment  by  the 
whites  excepting  certain  roads  therein  specified,  lead- 
ing to  the  principal  military  posts  on  the  northwestern 
frontier  and  also  six  miles  square  contigious  to  and 
including  each  of  said  posts;  also,  six  miles  square  at 
the  Rapids  of  the  Maumee  and  six  miles  square,  also, 
at  its  mouth;  also,  six  miles  square  on  the  Sandusky 

274 


FORT    McINTOSH   TREATY 

River,  another  at  Detroit,  and  one  on  the  River  Raisin." 

The  treaty  of  Fort  Harmer,  signed  January  9,  1789, 
confirmed  the  Knes  established  by  the  treaty  of  Fort 
Mcintosh. 

The  treaty  of  Greenville  signed  August  3,  1795,  re- 
established the  lines  made  at  the  Fort  Mcintosh  treaty 
and  confirmed  that  of  Fort  Harmer,  as  also  a  complete 
relinquishment  of  sixteen  square  tracts  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  several  military  posts  then  held,  or  claimed  by 
the  United  States,  south  of  the  lakes,  together  with  the 
right  of  vv^ay  to  and  from  them. 

The  first  treaty  made  by  the  Indians  to  the  whites 
in  which  they  ceded  to  the  British  the  territory  now 
included  within  the  Western  Reserve,  was  made  July 
19,  1701,  over  two  hundred  years  ago.  The  description, 
spelling  and  all  is  as  follows: 

"A  tract  lying  between  the  great  lake  Ottawawa 
(Huron)  and  the  lake  called  by  the  natives  Sahiquage 
and  by  the  Christians  Swege  (Erie),  and  runns  till  it 
butts  upon  the  Twichtwichs  and  is  bounded  on  the  right 
hand  by  a  place  called  Quadoge,  (head  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, Chicago),  conteigning  in  length  800  miles  and  in 
bredth  400  miles  including  the  country  where  the 
Bevers,  the  Deers  and  Elks  keep." 


MILITARY  EXPEDITION  INTO  THE  NORTH 
WESTERN  TERRITORY— 1790-1794 

In  the  autumn  of  1785,  Maj.  John  Doughty  under 
the  direction  of  the  then  Col.  Josiah  Harmer  commenced 
the  erection  of  Fort  Harmer.  It  was  built  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Muskingum  at  its  junction  with  the  Ohio. 
It  was  not  completed  until  the  year  1786,  but  was  the 
second  to  be  erected  within  the  limits  of  Ohio,  Fort 
Laurens  having  been  built  seven  years  earlier,  in  1779. 

The  North-West  Territory  being  organized  in  1788, 
the  government  of  the  United  States  made  an  imme- 
diate effort  to  subdue  the  Indians  of  the  Territory. 

Disaster  had  followed  the  campaigns  of  Braddock 
in  1755,  Wilkins  in  1763,  Bradstreet  in  1764,  Lochry  in 
1781  and  the  murderous  and  disgraceful  campaigns 
of  Col.  Williamson  in  April  and  that  of  Col.  Crawford  in 
June  1782  had  only  inflamed  the  hostile  savages  and 
inspired  them  with  greater  courage  and  perseverance. 

Midnight  shrieks  of  terror,  the  burning  cabins, 
outraged  womanhood,  the  yell  of  despair,  the  torture 
stake  were  but  daily  incidents  in  the  far  from  the 
frontier  settlements.  Indeed  in  these  few  years  more 
blood  had  been  shed,  more  treasure  destroyed  on  the 
frontiers  of  Ohio,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky 
than  had  been  in  the  Revolutionary  War  on  both  sides. 
To  secure  a  speedy  termination  of  these  savage  atroci- 
ties the  National  Government  early  organized  a  number 
of  military  expeditions  into  the  Ohio  country. 

Gen.  'Harmer  was  then  the  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Military  Department  of  the  west.     His  was  to  be 

276 


MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

the  first  expedition  in  the  North-Western  Territory.  In 
the  autumn  of  1790,  Gen.  Harmer  moboHzed  the  troops 
under  his  command.  He  then  made  requisitions  on 
Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky  for  volunteers.  Pennsyl- 
vania sent  troops  under  the  command  of  Col.  John 
Hardin.  Kentucky  sent  troops  under  the  command  of 
Col.  Trotter.  The  volunteers  numberer  in  all  some 
1400  men. 

The  expedition  left  Fort  Washington  and  marched 
to  the  Junction  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  St.  Mary's  rivers 
(Fort  Wayne).  After  destroying  several  villages  and 
wasting  the  country  as  far  as  Maumee,  he  divided  his 
army  into  detachments.  Col.  Hardin  who  commanded 
the  Pennsylvania  troops  was  ambuscaded  and  his  forces 
routed  at  a  village  eleven  miles  from  Fort  Wayne  and 
on  October  21,  the  main  division  was  defeated  with 
great  loss  at  the  Maumee  Ford.  Gen.  Harmer  imme- 
diately retreated  to  Fort  Washington  and  disbanded 
his  army. 

GEN.  MARTIN  SMITH'S  EXPEDITION 

W^hen  Gen.  Harmer  called  for  volunteers  from 
Pennsylvania  for  a  warfare  on  the  Maumee  Indians, 
Gen.  Martin  Smith  raised  a  body  of  volunteers  in  East- 
ern Pennsylvania,  but  instead  of  going  down  the  Ohio 
in  boats  to  Cincinnati,  as  the  other  Pennsylvania  troops 
did,  he  struck  out  directly  Westward  across  the  country 
to  Fort  Wayne.  It  is  not  known  whether  he  left  Penn- 
sylvania westward  from  Fort  Mcintosh  on  the  Fort 
Mcintosh  and  Sandusky  Indian  trail  or  whether  he 
took  boats  from  Fort  Presque  Isle  (Erie)  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Cuyahoga,  thence  up  the  Cuyahoga  to  Old  Port- 

277 


MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

age,  but  probably  the  latter.  From  Old  Portage  he  cut 
a  roadway  westward  (the  Old  Smith  Road)  to  the 
Indiana  line.  Near  Medina  he  abandoned  three  brass 
field  pieces.  , 

This  old  road  was  re-cut  in  1812  by  Col.  Rial  Mc- 
Arthur  and  his  (Akron)  Middlebury  Co.  and  over  it  he 
marched  his  command  to  Fort  Stevenson.  Over  this 
road  also  came  the  hero  of  Fort  Stevenson  and  his  150 
men.  Gen.  Perkin's  army  returned  by  it.  Over  this 
during  1812  went  all  the  canon,  amunition  and  sup- 
plies for  Fort  Meigs,  Fort  Stephenson  and  Gen.  Perkin's 
camp  on  the  Huron.  At  its  foot,  in  the  Cuyagoha  Val- 
ley, lay  Gen.  Wadsworth's  army  of  occupation. 

ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR'S  EXPEDITION 

After  the  defeat  of  Harmer  the  government  adopt- 
ed more  vigorous  measures  for  the  repression  of  Indian 
hostilities. 

On  September  6,  1791,  Gen.  St.  Clair,  the  Governor 
of  the  North-western  Territory,  with  an  army  of  2300 
men  set  out  from  Fort  Washington  (Cincinnati)  to 
break  the  power  of  the  Miami  confederacy.  On  the 
night  of  November  3  he  reached  a  point  nearly  100 
miles  north  of  Fort  Washington  and  encamped  on  one 
of  the  upper  tributaries  of  the  Wabash,  in  what  is  now 
the  south-west  angle  of  Mercer  County. 

On  the  morning  of  November  14,  half  an  hour 
before  sunrise,  his  camp  was  suddenly  assailed  by  more 
than  2000  warriors  led  by  Capt.  Pipe,  Little  Turtle  and 
several  American  renegades. 

After  a  terrible  battle  of  three  hours  duration,  St. 
Clair  was  completely  defeated  with  a  loss  of  1000  men, 

278 


MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

The  defeat  soon  became  a  rout  with  the  Indians  kilHng 
on  every  side.  It  was  here  that  Capt.  Pipe  said,  "I 
killed,  killed  and  killed  until  my  arm  grew  weary."  Gen. 
St.  Clair  had  eight  bullets  through  his  clothes  and  hat. 
He  had  four  horses  killed  and  was  finally  compelled  to 
mount  an  old  steed  that  could  scarcely  walk.  St.  Clair's 
men  had  not  eaten  breakfast  yet  and  were  in  poor  con- 
dition to  fight.  The  weather  was  cold  and  the  ground 
was  covered  with  a  slushy  snow.  One  woman  with  an 
infant  who  was  with  the  army  threw  away  her  baby 
in  the  snow  because  it  retarded  her  flight.  The  Indians 
rescued  the  baby,  took  it  to  their  town  and  raised  it. 
From  50  to  200  women  were  killed  in  this  action — 
accounts  vary. 

On  his  march  north  St.  Clair  had  built  a  fort  four 
miles  south  of  the  present  Greeneville,  Darke  Co., 
which  he  named  Fort  Jefferson.  The  defeated  troops 
fled  to  this  fort  where  a  council  of  war  was  held  and 
they  concluded  to  continue  their  march  south  and 
marched  all  night.  Fort  Hamilton,  which  they  had 
built  on  their  march  to  the  north  on  the  Great  Miami 
was  44  miles  south  of  Fort  Jefferson. 

Capt.  Buntin,  afterwards  dispatched  to  bury  the 
dead,  filled  four  trenches  but  on  account  of  the  snow 
was  unable  to  find  all ;  26  months  later  Wayne's  advance 
counted  600  skulls  on  the  battle  field.  "Oh!"  said  an 
old  squaw  years  later  at  St.  Marys,  "My  arm  that  night 
was  weary  scalping  white  man."  The  Indian  camp  near 
the  battle  field  was  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  mile 
long.  Col.  John  Johnson,  Indian  agent,  said,  "One  of 
my  interpreters.  Wells,  by  name,  said  that  he  toma- 
hawked and  scalped  the  wounded  and  dead  till  he  was 

279 


MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

unable  to  raise  his  arm."  If  it  had  not  been  that  the 
Indians  were  so  crazy  for  loot  from  the  camp  the  fatali- 
ties would  have  been  much  larger. 

GENERAL  ANTHONY  WAYNE'S  EXPEDITION 

The  expeditions  that  were  to  have  enforced  peace 
with  the  Indians  of  the  North-Western  Territory  hav- 
ing proved  an  utter  and  complete  failure,  the  people  of 
the  Great  West  had  become  desperate  and  agonized 
wails  went  up  to  Congress  from  every  section.  St. 
Clair  was  deposed  and  Congress  appointed  Gen. 
Anthony  Wayne,  *'Mad  Anthony"  as  they  delighted  to 
call  him,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  of  the 
West. 

On  the  28th  of  Jul3^  1794,  Wayne  having  been 
joined  by  Gen.  Scott  with  1600  gallant  mounted  Ken- 
tuckians,  began  his  forward  drive  toward  the  Maumee, 
following  practically  the  same  route  taken  by  the  un- 
fortunate St.  Clair.  This  army  of  3200  strong  on  Aug- 
ust 8  arrived  near  the  junction  of  the  Maumee  and 
Auglaize  and  there  commenced  the  erection  of  Fort 
Defiance.  The  Indians  being  aware  that  Wayne  was 
advancing  had  hastily  abandoned  their  Auglaize  vil- 
lages and  the  surprise  that  Mad  Anthony  had  for  them 
fell  through.  His  army  moved  forward  and  on  August 
18,  reached  Roche  DeBouef  (Standing  Rock)  where 
they  erected  light  fortifications  and  named  it  Fort 
Deposit.  On  the  20th  they  moved  forward  to  attack 
the  Indians  encamped  on  the  bank  of  the  Maumee, 
about  two  miles  south  of  Maumee  City  and  four  south 
of  the  British  Fort  Miamis.  Just  north  of  this  fort 
was  Proctor's  Camp.    Fort  Miamis  was  garrisoned  by 

280 


MrUTARY  EXPEDITIONS 

a  force  of  450  men  and  mounted  ten  pieces  of  artillery. 

As  Wayne's  advance  which  consisted  of  mounted 
troops  under  the  command  of  Major  Price,  rounded  the 
high  hill  called  Presque  Isle,  they  were  met  by  a  with- 
ering volley  from  the  Indians  hidden  in  the  long  grass 
and  the  woods.  Major  Price  immediately  fell  back  on 
the  main  body.  Gen.  Wayne  in  his  report  says,  "The 
Legion  was  the  right,  its  flank  covered  by  the  Maumee : 
one  brigade  of  mounted  volunteers  on  the  left,  under 
Gen.  Todd,  and  the  other  in  the  rear  under  Gen.  Barber. 
A  select  battalion  moved  in  front."  The  battle  of  Fallen 
Timbers  was  on. 

He  further  states,  "The  Legion  was  immediately 
formed  in  two  lines,  principally  in  a  close  thick  wood, 
which  extended  for  miles  on  our  left,  and  for  a  very 
considerable  distance  in  front ;  the  ground  being  cov- 
ered with  old  fallen  timber  which  rendered  it  impracti- 
cable for  the  cavalry  to  act  with  effect  and  afforded 
the  enemy  the  most  favorable  covert  for  their  mode  of 
warfare.  The  savages  were  formed  in  three  lines, 
within  supporting  distance  of  each  other  and  extending 
for  nearly  tw^o  miles  at  right  angels  with  the  river. 
The  enemy  were  in  full  force  in  front,  in  possession 
of  their  favorite  ground  and  endeavoring  to  turn  our 
left  flank.  I  ordered  the  second  line  to  advance  and  sup- 
port the  first  and  directed  Maj.  Scott  to  gain  and  turn 
the  right  flank  of  the  savages  with  the  whole  force  of 
the  mounted  volunteers  by  a  circuitous  route;  at  the 
same  time  I  ordered  the  front  line  to  advance  with 
trailed  arms  aijd  arouse  th6  Indians  from  their  coverts 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  and  when  up,  to  deliver  a 
close  and  well  directed  fire  on  their  backs,  followed  by  a 

281 


MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

brisk  charge  so  as  not  to  give  them  time  to  load  again. 
I  also  ordered  Capt.  Campbell,  who  commanded  the 
legionary  cavalry,  to  turn  the  left  flank  of  the  enemy 
next  the  river,  which  afforded  a  favorable  field  for  that 
corps  to  act  in.  The  enemy  was  driven,  in  the  course  of 
one  hour,  more  than  two  miles  through  the  thick  woods. 
From  every  account  the  enemy  amounted  to  two 
thousand.  Our  troops  actually  engaged  were  short  of 
900.  This  horde  of  savages  with  their  allies,  abandoned 
themselves  to  flight  and  dispersed  with  terror  and  dis- 
may, leaving  our  victorious  army  in  full  and  quiet  pos- 
session of  the  field  of  battle,  which  terminated  under 
the  guns  of  the  British  garrison.  The  loss  of  the  enemy 
was  more  than  ours.  They  were  strewn  for  a  consider- 
able distance  with  the  dead  bodies  of  Indians  and  their 
auxiliaries,  the  latter  armed  with  British  muskets  and 
bayonets." 

Wayne  remained  here  for  three  days  destroying 
all  the  cornfields  and  burning  all  the  houses  for  a  long 
distance  above  and  below  the  British  Fort.  Among 
those  burned  and  destroyed  were  the  houses,  stores, 
warehouses  and  property  of  Col.  McKee,  British  Indian 
Agent  and  renegade  white.  Concluding  his  report 
Wayne  says,  *'Col.  McKee  was  the  principal  stimulator 
of  the  war  now  existing  between  the  United  States  and 
the  savages."  Wayne's  loss  in  this  battle  was  83  killed 
and  100  wounded.  Seven  days  after  the  battle,  July  27, 
1794,  Wayne's  army  returned  to  Fort  Defiance,  laying 
waste  the  villages  and  cornfields  of  the  Indians  for 
about  50  miles  on  each  side  of  the  Maumee. 

Col.  McKee,  Capt.  Elliott  and  Simon  Girty,  rene- 
gade whites,  were  at  this  battle.   Gen.  Harrison  says, 

362 


MILITARY  EXPEDITIONS 

"The  Indians  assembled  at  the  Miami  of  the  Lake,  were 
completely  equipped  out  of  the  King's  store  from  the 
Fort  and  they  were  fed  with  regular  rations  from  the 
King's  stores  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  War  of 
the  Revolution  continued  in  the  Western  Country  until 
the  peace  of  Greenville  in  1795." 

About  200  British  volunteers  and  regulars  fought 
with  the  Indians,  among  them  two  companies  of  Cana- 
dian Militia.  Among  the  chiefs  in  this  battle  we  find 
that  Blue  Jacket  led  the  British,  Tecumseh  the  Shaw- 
nees.  Little  Turtle  the  Miamis,  Tarhe  the  Wyandots 
and  Capt.  Pipe  the  Delawares.  At  this  time  the  British 
had  heavy  garrisons  in  their  forts  which  they  still  held 
at  Niagara,  Detroit,  Maumee  and  other  Western  posts. 

Thos.  Lyon,  Chief  of  the  Delawares  and  a  lieuten- 
ant to  Capt.  Pipe,  said,  speaking  of  Wayne,  "Him  be 
great  Chief.  He  be  one  devil  to  fight.  Me  hear  his 
dinner  horn — way  over  there  it  go  toot,  toot — then  way 
over  the  other  side,  go  toot,  toot,  then  his  soldiers  run 
forward — shoot,  shoot.  Indians  run  among  logs  and 
brush.  Then  come  Long  Knives  with  pistols  and  shoot, 
shoot.  Indians  run,  no  stop.  Old  Tom  see  too  much 
fight  to  be  trap — he  run  into  woods — he  run  like  devil — 
he  keep  run  till  he  clear  out  of  danger.  Wayne  great 
fight — brave  white  chief — he  be  one  devil." 


GEN.  WADSWORTH'S  ARMY  OF 
OCCUPATION 

During  the  war  of  1812,  a  camp  was  established  at 
Old  Portage  for  the  protection  of  the  settlers  of  the  Re- 
serve. The  stationing  of  General  Wadsworth  at  this 
place  with  an  army,  gave  the  settlers  repose. 

Before  this  in  1811,  a  large  body  of  Indians  under 
the  command -of  Chief  George,  or  Onondago  George,  as 
he  was  more  popularly  known,  appeared  on  the  Cuyaho- 
ga. That  they  were  bent  on  trouble  was  evident  from 
their  surly  actions.  Chief  George  spent  several  days 
on  the  banks  of  the  Cuyahoga,  shaking  his  tomahawk 
and  scalping  knife  and  making  threatening  gestures.  A 
few  days  later  they  suddenly  disappeared.  It  is  thought 
that  Indian  runners  had  reached  him  with  the  news  of 
the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.  It  was  a  well  known  fact  that 
Indians  received  information  days  before  the  whites 
were  able  to  do  so.  It  then  became  clear  to  the  settlers 
that  these  Indians  were  plotting  to  act  their  part  in  a 
great  national  tragedy,  that  of  wiping  out  the  white 
settlements  of  the  Reserve. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a  plan  had  been  laid  by 
Capt.  Pipe,  Jr.,  and  his  minor  chiefs  to  massacre  all  the 
frontier  whites.  It  is  also  true  that  they  were  deterred 
from  the  accomplishment  of  this  terrible  project  by  the 
defeat  of  the  Indians  at  Tippecanoe.  While  here  in  1811, 
Chief  George  had  a  constant  out-look  stationed  on  the 
high  bluff  west  of  the  river,  near  where  the  canal  lock 
at  old  Portage  now  is.    That  this  plan  of  a  general  mas- 

284 


~r'.^      -^     =4-^  *:  *  >.3S]i*S 


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ARMY  OF  OCCUPATION 

sacre  was  only  held  in  abeyance  by  the  course  of  events 
we  have  ample  evidence. 

It  was  supposed  by  the  Indians  that  the  British 
marine  forces  would  destroy  the  infant  navy  of  Capt. 
Perry.  Had  this  become  an  actual  fact,  the  Indian 
allies  would  have  ravaged  the  entire  northern  portions 
of  the  state.  Civilization  in  Ohio  would  have  been  re- 
tarded and  our  National  history  changed  in  more  than 
one  particular. 

Genl.  Wadsworth  and  his  army  were  ordered  to  the 
"Upper  Headquarters,"  as  the  surveyors  of  1796  and 
1797  had  named  Old  Portage.  The  post  was  established 
in  September,  1812  and  was  regarded  as  a  place  of  great 
importance  throughout  the  war.  In  order  to  reach  the 
seat  of  action  in  the  northwest  and  be  able  to  forward 
forces  at  a  moments  notice,  Genl.  Wadsworth  ordered  a 
road  re-cut  through  the  woods  from  Old  Portage  in  a 
northwesterly  direction  to  camp  Avery,  now  Milan, 
Ohio,  on  the  Huron  River,  a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles. 
This  road  was  of  great  service  to  the  American  forces. 
It  is  in  use  to  this  day  and  is  known  as  the  "Old  Smith 
Road,"  Genl.  Smith  while  moving  west  on  this,  is  said 
to  have  abandoned  three  brass  field  pieces,  near  Medina. 
These  canon  were  buried  to  prevent  a  possibility  of 
their  being  captured.  A  great  many  people  have  hunted 
for  "Smith's  Cannon,"  but  they  have  never  been  found. 

While  Gen.  Wadsworth  lay  at  Old  Portage,  General 
Perkins  and  his  army  lay  at  Camp  Avery,  six  miles  be- 
low the  mouth  of  the  Huron ;  the  gallant  Geo.  Croghan 
held  Fort  Stephenson  until  relieved,  when  he  marched 
his  men  over  the   "old   Smith   road"   to   Wadsworth's 

286 


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ARMY  OF  OCCUPATION 

headquarters.  At  the  same  time,  Gen.  Crooks  with  two 
thousand  vohmteers  from  Pennsylvania  forced  his  way 
north  via  New  Lisbon  and  on  to  Canton  and  Wooster, 
thence  north,  passing  through  Ashland  county  to  Upper 
Sandusky.  Rial  McArthur's  Independent  rifles  were 
ordered  to  finish  the  road  to  the  Huron  River  but  before 
he  had  completed  it,  he  heard  of  the  battle  with  the 
Indians  on  the  "Peninsula"  and  he  forced  his  way  di- 
rectly to  Camp  Huron  to  reinforce  that  garrison.  From 
there  he  was  ordered  to  Fort  Stevenson,  which  he  com- 
manded until  the  defeat  of  Winchester,  when  he  was 
ordered  to  the  Maumee  where  he  assisted  in  building 
Ft.  Meigs. 

General  Beall  who  lay  with  his  army  at  "Camp 
Council,"  near  the  southern  line  of  the  Reserve,  was 
arrested  and  court-martialed  on  his  arrival  at  "Camp 
Avery."  Gen.  Wadsworth  had  ordered  him  to  report 
with  his  command  at  Cleveland.  Instead  of  this  he 
marched  to  the  relief  of  the  imperiled  citizens  in  the 
counties  of  Medina,  Lorain,  Ashland  and  Richland,  who 
were  dismayed  at  the  recent  Indian  massacres. 


TROUBLES  OF  EARLY  CONSTABLES 

Moses  Dunning,  who  was  a  pioneer  justice  of  the 
peace,  says:  "I  had  started  early  and  traveled  four 
miles  to  ask  four  men  to  come  and  help  roll  logs.  When 
we  got  to  my  cabin  I  found  a  man  waiting  whose  face 
showed  that  he  had  been  fully  engaged  in  a  fight.  He 
said  he  had  come  six  miles  to  see  me  and  learn  what  the 
law  was  as  to  assault  and  battery  as  he  had  been 
pretty  well  battered.  The  Bible  was  on  a  board  which  1 
wished  him  to  take  down  and  read  the  law  for  himself. 
He  took  the  book.  I  had  no  statute  in  the  cabin  at  that 
time.  After  turning  over  many  pages  I  soon  discovered 
that  he  could  not  read.  He  asked  me  on  what  page  he 
could  find  the  law  of  battery.  I  told  him  that  I  did  not 
recollect  the  page,  but  I  could  give  him  the  words  of  the 
law  as  recorded  in  that  book.  He  said  the  law  was  what 
he  wished  to  know,  so  he  might  have  some  idea  what 
sum  he  could  recover  from  the  man  who  had  whipped 
him.  I  told  him  that  the  words  of  the  law  in  that  book 
were ;  **He  that  smitheth  thee  on  one  cheek,  turn  to  him 
the  other  also."  He  looked  at  me,  then  at  the  book,  took 
his  hat  and  as  he  left  said  'That  the  law  was  too  devil- 
ish poor  to  do  him  any  good." 

Wm.  Prior  relates:  ''While  the  canal  was  build- 
ing Ambrose  King  was  constable  and  with  a  warrant 
went  to  arrest  an  Irish  laborer  for  some  offense.  He 
found  him  in  an  unfinished  lock-pit  above  Old  Portage 
in  company  with  a  gang  of  other  working  men,  who, 
when  they  ascertained  King's  business,  refused  to  per- 
mit the  arrest,  surrounded  him,  threatening  his  life. 

289 


TROUBLES  OF  EARLY  CONSTABLES 

Armed  with  spades  and  cudgels  they  cornered  him  in 
the  lock.  With  only  a  horse  pistol  for  defense,  he 
warned  them  to  desist ;  but,  instead  they  made  a  charge, 
when  he  fired,  the  ball' striking  one  of  them  on  his  rib, 
glancing  off  without  inflicting  a  serious  wound.  Being 
very  active,  he  sprang  up  the  steep  bank  and  ran  for  his 
life.  He  was  followed,  overtaken,  knocked  down  and 
beaten  with  clubs  until  supposed  to  be  dead.  His  friends 
hearing  of  the  affray  sent  a  wagon  for  him,  put  him  in 
it  and  started  for  Akron,  followed  by  the  workmen  with 
threats  and  imprecations.  Meeting  a  physician  they 
halted  while  an  examination  was  made  and  King  pro- 
nounced yet  alive. 

'Then,'  shouted  an  excited  Irishman  standing  by, 
'We  will  kill  him  yet,'  striking  a  blow  at  his  head  with  a 
long  club  but  the  horses  were  frightened  and  started  off 
and  the  blow  missed  its  mark.  Then  the  furious  laborer 
turned  on  a  German  standing  by  and  with  a  sweeping 
blow  of  his  club  struck  him  on  the  head,  from  which  he 
fell  as  if  shot.  He  was  left  with  the  Irish  and  never 
seen  again.  It  was  supposed  that  they  buried  him  sec- 
retly at  night  in  the  canal  bed,  where  he  could  not  be 
found.  This  aroused  indignation  and  vengeance  to  its 
highest  pitch.  Next  the  militia  company  was  called  out, 
armed  with  rifles  and  ammunition ;  a  bottle  of  whiskey 
was  passed  around  and  a  battle  and  bloodshed  was 
imminent.  Just  then  a  rider  came  dashing  up,  his  horse 
covered  with  dust  and  foam.  He  was  a  contractor  and 
had  just  heard  of  the  difficulty  and  asked  for  time  to 
hold  a  consultation  with  his  employees,  hoping  to  induce 
a  surrender  without  resistance.  He  rode  down  and 
found  them  intrenched  for  defense  and  explained  what 

290 


TROUBLES  OF  EARLY  CONSTABLES 

folly  it  would  be  to  resist,  that  every  man  would  be  shot 
down  if  necessary,  to  make  the  arrest.  They  laid  down 
their  weapons,  surrendered  and  were  marched  to  Mid- 
dlebury  for  safe  keeping,  where  the  militia  stood  guard 
till  the  trial  and  conviction  of  their  leader.  As  King 
recovered  the  penalty  was  not  severe  and  peace  was 
again  restored." 

Eleazer  Rice  was  the  first  constable  of  Bath  Town- 
ship. One  Sunday,  in  sport,  Lewis  Hammond  and 
Isaiah  Fowler  tipped  over  Rice's  sled  and  broke  it.  Rice 
got  a  warrant  as  he  was  the  only  constable,  the  writ 
was  placed  in  his  hands  for  service.  Just  as  he  arrived 
at  the  squire's,  Hammond  and  Fowler  started  to  run  in 
opposite  directions.  Here  was  a  delimena.  Poor  Rice 
could  chase  but  one  and  he,  unfortunately  selected 
Hammond,  who  was  a  large  and  powerful  man.  Rice 
came  up  with  him  and  jumping  on  his  back,  locked  his 
arms  about  his  neck.  Hammond  without  the  least  halt, 
seized  him  by  the  legs  and  ran  away  with  him.  This 
was  the  first  arrest  in  Bath. 

In  this  connection  we  must  give  an  account  of  one 
of  the  early  marriages  on  the  Reserve.  The  marriage 
was  the  first  in  Green  Township  and  the  contracting 
parties  were  Jacob  Smith,  Jr.,  and  Miss  Dixon.  They 
were  married  by  a  Dutch  justice.  The  following  cere- 
mony was  used: 

"You  bromis  to  take  te  voman  you  holt  py  te  hant 
to  pe  your  vife,  and  tat  you  vill  shtick  to  her  through 
hell-fire  and  dunder?  Den  I  bronounce  you  man  and 
voman,  by  cot." 

While  Benjamin  Stowe  was  magistrate,  Thomas 
Kennedy  and  Wareham  Loomis  got  into  a  fight  and  the 

291 


TROUBLES  OF  EARLY  CONSTABLES 

one  who  was  whipped  had  the  other  arrested.  When  the 
case  came  up  for  trial,  the  prosecuting  witness,  defen- 
dant and  spectators  were  all  greatly  surprised  at  the 
decision  of  the  judge.  He  fined  both  parties  $5.00  a 
piece  and  made  each  pay  one  half  the  costs.  Being  re- 
monstrated with  by  a  friend  of  the  prosecuting  witness 
at  the  apparent  irregularity  of  the  proceeding — that  it 
was  not  law — he  replied, 

"I  am  chief  Justice  of  this  domain  and  am  here  to 
deal  out  justice ;  I  don't  care  a  fig  for  the  law." 

The  accomodating  Captain  Delawn  Mills,  for  some 
years  kept  a  wayside  tavern,  after  he  built  his  double 
log-house  and  as  in  all  such  places,  sold  whiskey,  but 
forgot  to  take  out  a  license.  He  was  arrested  and  ar- 
ranged in  the  Trumbull  County  Court  for  selling  liquor 
without  a  license  and  plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  Judge 
Kirtland,  who  had  often  been  refreshed  at  the  hostelry 
of  Mills,  remarked  to  Judge  Pease  that  he  did  not  think 
the  defendant  guilty  within  the  meaning  of  the  statute, 
whereupon  Pease  asked  Mills  if  he  could  not  change  his 
plea.  "May  it  please  the  court,  your  honor,  I  am  not 
guilty,"  promptly  replied  the  willing  Captain  and  he  was 
at  once  discharged. 

This  shows  that  in  those  early  times  they  aimed  at 
justice  rather  than  facts  or  law.  A  rendering  of  judg- 
ment according  to  the  strict  technicalities  of  law  did  not 
prevail  in  the  pioneer  courts. 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS  OF  THE 
CUYAHOGA  VALLEY 

In  the  preparation  of  this  chapter,  I  have  been 
largely  indebted  to  the  writings  of  M.  L.  Shook,  W.  A. 
Goodspeed  and  Charles  W.  Foote  in  Perrin's  History  of 
Summit  County,  also  Gen.  Bierce's  History  of  Summit 
County. 

Boston  and  Old  Portage  were  for  many  years 
notorious  on  account  of  a  band  of  counterfeitors  who 
made  the  deep,  inaccessible  gullies  and  ravines  of  the 
township  their  headquarters.  Not  only  was  silver  coin 
counterfeited,  but  State  bank  notes,  especially  those  of 
Indiana,  were  turned  out  by  the  bushel.  Some  of  the 
most  infiu'.-ntial  citizens  were  induced  to  engage  in  the 
unlawful  business  and  it  is  even  stated  that  a  certain 
aspect  of  respectibility  was  conceeded  to  this  occu- 
pation. In  1832  the  counterfeiting  reached  its  zenith 
of  power  and  circulation  and  at  that  period  is  said  to 
have  been  the  most  extensive  banking  establishment 
in  Ohio,  if  not  in  the  Union.  There  were  branch  officers 
or  "banks"  in  Cleveland,  in  Rising  Sun,  Ind.,  in  Vermont 
and  in  other  sections  of  the  country.  The  officers  of  the 
bank  were  Wm.  G.  Taylor,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Dan  Brown, 
of  Rising  Sun,  Indiana,  James  Brown,  of  Boston,  and 
Col.  William  Ashley,  from  Vermont.  A  more  notable 
set  of  men  never  met  to  consult  on  the  affairs  of  the 
State  Bank  of  Ohio ;  and  excepting  that  they  never  had 
a  charter  from  the  state  authorizing  them  to  swindle,  a 
more  noble  set  of  men  never  congregated  as  a  "board 
of  control."  Taylor  was  a  lawyer,  a  man  of  education 
and  talent,  and  wealthy.    Dan  Brown  was  a  merchant ; 

293 


« 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

the  finest  looking  and  most  accomplished  gentleman  m 
the  west.  James  Brown  was  one  of  the  finest  looking 
men  in  Ohio,  over  six  feet  in  height,  well  proportioned, 
his  hair  black  as  a  raven,  a  little  curly  and  it  was  prov- 
erbial, that  his  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond.  Col.  Ash- 
ley was  from  Vermont,  where  he  started  his  banking 
operations ;  but  being  hard  pressed,  he  fled  to  Slab  City, 
in  Canada,  from  which  he  was  compelled  to  flee,  when 
he  came  to  Boston  in  1822.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of 
a  man,  with  the  exterior  and  manner  that  would  adorn 
any  society.    He  sunk  the  gentlemen  in  the  banker. 

Coins  of  some  heavy  material  were  first  manufac- 
tured and  then  covered  with  a  thin  film  of  silver;  or  the 
coin  was  first  prepared  in  plates  and  then  stamped  with 
a  die  of  the  denomination  of  the  money  desired.  So 
successful  were  these  men  in  manufacturing  and  pass- 
ing their  money  that  they  started  a  grand  scheme  of 
financiering.  This  was  to  swindle  the  world.  They  dis- 
counted an  immense  amount  of  bills  on  the  United 
States  Bank,  with  which  they  contemplated  visiting 
Europe  and  even  China,  exchanging  the  United  States 
Bank  paper  for  the  products  of  those  countries.  These 
products  they  expected  to  ship  to  distant  points  to  be 
sold.  Their  anticipations,  however,  were  doomed  to  en- 
counter reserves  and  rebuffs.  It  is  said  that  Brown  had 
a  confederate  in  the  banking  house  which  then  stamped 
and  furnished  bills  for  the  United  States  Bank ;  that 
through  the  agency  of  this  pal,  the  genuine  plates 
themselves  were  conveyed  into  Brown's  hands  and  im- 
mense quantities  of  illegal  issue  were  struck  from  the 
identical  plates.  A  great  store  of  $100  bills  were  accu- 
mulated. 

294 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  gang  to  procure 
a  suitable  ship,  load  her  with  this  spurious  scrip,  visit 
China  and  other  Oriental  countries,  where  United 
States  Bank  bills  circulated  at  par,  purchasing  a  cargo 
of  teas,  coffees,  silk,  etc.,  to  be  disposed  of  again  in  Eng- 
land and  on  the  continent.  They  proceeded  to  New 
Orleans,  obtained  a  vessel,  filled  it  according  to  pro- 
gram, and  set  sail  for  China.  A  discovery  of  their  real 
character,  however,  was  just  then  made.  The  vessel 
was  overhauled  before  fairly  out  of  the  Mississippi  and 
the  rogues  committed  to  prison. 

The  wife  of  Blannerhasset,  walking  that  Island  in 
the  Ohio,  shedding  bitter  tears  of  anguish,  has  been  told 
in  song  and  story.  But  concerning  the  devoted  wife  of 
James  Brown,  the  counterfeit  king,  both  poet  and 
story-teller  have  been  silent.  She  is  believed  to  have  had 
no  knowledge  of  her  husband's  criminality  and  she  re- 
mained the  tender  and  devoted  wife  she  always  had 
been.  Upon  receiving  the  news  of  his  apprehension  at 
New  Orleans,  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  trial  and  to 
use  her  influence  for  him,  she  proceeded  from  Old  Port- 
age to  New  Orleans  on  horseback;  from  the  Great 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  on  horseback,  all  for  love  and  to  save 
her  husband. 

James  Brown  was  used  as  a  witness  against  Taylor, 
who  was  acquitted  and  became  a  vagabond  and  a  wan- 
derer on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Ashley  died  in  the  Ohio 
Penitentiary  in  1838.  Still  another  was  sent  there 
from  Liverpool,  Medina  County.  Abram  Holmes,  one 
of  the  stockholders,  became  a  fugitive  from  justice,  but 
returned  in  1837,  with  consumption  with  which  he  soon 

295 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

died.  Daniel  Brown,  a  son  of  James,  was  arrested  when 
but  eighteen  years  old  for  discounting  their  issues  in 
Lorain  County,  but  was  liberated  by  a  technicality  of 
law.  He  became  a  fugitive  from  justice,  not  having  a 
place  on  which  to  set  his  foot  in  safety  till  1851,  when 
he  saved  the  authorities  any  further  trouble  by  dying. 
Others  were  prosecuted  in  different  parts  of  the  state, 
many  of  whom  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law. 
The  gang  was  broken  up  and  its  members  scattered 
over  the  country  to  repent  at  leisure  for  their  misdeeds. 
It  is  stated  that  some  of  the  most  honored  in  the  state 
were  so  connected  with  the  unlawful  business  as  to 
share  its  profits  without  incurring  any  of  its  liabilities. 

For  many  years  after  the  gangs  were  broken  up, 
dies,  counterfeit  money  and  various  implements  used 
in  its  manufacture  were  found  in  the  ravines  and  even 
in  the  houses  of  some  citizens.  There  was  scarcely  a 
resident  of  the  township  who  was  not  tempted  to  pass 
the  coin  and  bills.  On  one  occasion  a  man  with  a  valise 
waited  on  Mr.  Wait  and  asked  him  to  buy  State  Bank  of 
Indiana  bills  at  twenty-five  cents  on  the  dollar.  He 
opened  his  valise  and  showed  him  it  was  packed  full  of 
these  bills.  Upon  Wait's  refusal  to  purchase  he  depart- 
ed. About  forty-seven  years  ago,  a  house  belonging  to 
one  of  the  most  respected  citizens  was  torn  down ;  con- 
cealed in  it  was  found  a  small  leather  bag  filled  with 
counterfeit  coin  in  dollar  and  half  dollar  pieces,  amount- 
ing to  more  than  one  hundred  dollars. 

Without  question,  this  was  the  most  thorough, 
daring  and  successful  scheme  of  the  sort  ever  de- 
vised or  carried  on  in  this  country  or  any  other. 
Through  a  period  of  nearly    a    score    of    years,    the 

296 


EARLY  CONTERFEITERS 

system  had  its  ramifications  throughout  the  whole 
United  States  and  Canada;  not  a  state  or  territory 
but  what  had  its  agents  and  scarcely  a  county  in 
any  state  without  them.  The  head  and  front  of 
this  undertaking  was  of  course,  James  Brown,  a 
man  of  rare  talent,  of  wonderful  energies.  He  pos- 
sessed a  degree  of  personal  magnetism  and  power 
few  men  have  ever  equalled.  Just  how  early  he  com- 
menced his  operations  is  not  known,  but  as  early  as 
1830  he  was  known  as  the  "Prince  of  counterfeiters"  in 
all  the  country  around.  One  of  the  earliest  of  his  ex- 
ploits consisted  in  passing  off  upon  a  prominent  New 
England  Bank  a  forged  draft.  Relays  of  the  fastest 
horses  had  previously  been  provided  at  stations  known 
only  to  himself  or  his  agents.  He  departed  instantly, 
rode  day  and  night.  He  left  Pittsburg  some  time  in  the 
night  and  in  the  morning  was  at  his  home  in  Yellow 
Creek,  making  the  quickest  journey  man  ever  made, 
except  by  steam,  which  was  an  after  production.  One 
hundred  and  thirty-two  miles  on  horseback  during  the 
night  time.  It  does  not  seem  possible.  He  was  arrest- 
ed, tried,  established  an  alibi  and  was  discharged  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  court,  which  held  that  it  was  proven 
by  numerous  and  trustworthy  witnesses  that  he  was 
seen  here  soon  after  the  occurence  at  the  bank  and  that 
it  was  utterly  impossible  that  he  could  have  been  there 
so  shortly  before.  About  the  year  1832  he  was  tried  in 
Medina  Court  of  Common  Pleas  upon  the  charge  of 
counterfeiting.  So  great  was  the  Sheriff's  confidence 
in  Brown's  word,  that  upon  his  request  and  a  parole 
promise  to  return  at  night,  he  permitted  him  every 
morning  to  go  at  large,  returning  each  evening  to  be 

297 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

locked  up.  He  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  the 
penitentiary,  but  was  overtaken  on  his  way  there  by 
the  service  of  a  writ  of  error  at  Mt.  Vernon  and  was 
returned  to  Medina.  The  judgment  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  was  reversed.  Bail  was  given  for  his 
appearance,  but  before  trial  came  on,  the  witnesses  for 
the  prosecution  had  disappeared  and  the  indictment 
was  nulled. 

So  great  was  Brown's  popularity  in  his  own  neigh- 
borhood that  he  was  repeatedly  elected  to  township 
offices.  He  held  the  position  of  Justice  of  the  Peace 
several  consecutive  terms;  was  an  incumbent  of  that 
office  in  1846,  when  the  first  check  was  put  upon  his 
career.  It  was  largely  due  to  this  condition  of  things 
that  it  was  impossible  to  secure  his  conviction  by  the 
ordinary  methods  of  the  lower  courts.  This  was  often 
attempted  and  as  often  failed,  until  it  was  generally  re- 
cognized by  every  one  else  as  well  as  himself  and 
friends.  Of  this  immunity  he  publicly  boasted;  when 
at  last  by  the  intervention  of  Federal  processes,  he  was 
brought  to  bay,  he  is  said  to  have  observed,  "Well  boys, 
now  the  United  States  have  taken  hold  of  me,  I  may  get 
floored,  but  I  could  have  worried  out  a  county."  In 
1846,  Wm.  S.  C.  Otis  was  the  Prosecuting  Attorney  for 
Summit  County;  through  his  efforts  Samuel  McClure, 
a  young  lawyer  of  Cuyahoga  Falls,  was  appointed 
United  States  Commissioner  for  the  State  of  Ohio,  for 
the  purpose  chiefly  of  instituting  proceedings  against 
Brown  through  the  media  of  the  Federal  Courts,  those 
of  the  State  being  found  insufficient.  Commissioner 
McClure  issued  a  warrant  for  his  arrest.  While  the 
warrant  was  yet  in  the  hands  of  Sheriff  Jones  unserved, 

298 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

McClure  appeared  as  an  attorney,  in  a  case  tried  before 
Justice  of  the  Peace  James  Brown.  Brown  reserved  his 
decision.  In  the  meantime  he  was  placed  in  prison. 
McClure  in  behalf  of  his  client  in  the  case  called  upon 
Brown  in  the  jail  before  the  day  assigned  for  the  pre- 
liminary examination.  Brown  then  announced  his 
judgment  as  Justice  in  favor  of  McClure's  client  and  at 
the  same  time  remarked  when  his  case  should  come  be- 
fore McClure  he  hoped  he  would  be  able  to  render  a 
judgment  in  his  favor.  The  preliminary  examination 
came  on  for  hearing ;  the  United  States  was  represent- 
ed by  Rufus  P.  Spaulding,  afterward  Judge  Spaulding 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  examination  was  held  at 
the  court  house  and  continued  several  days.  It  resulted 
in  Brown  being  held  for  bail  in  the  sum  of  $20,000  for 
his  appearance  before  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  at  Columbus  at  its  next  session.  In  default  of 
bail,  he  was  returned  to  jail ;  but  afterward  on  applica- 
tion to  a  Federal  Judge  the  bond  was  reduced  to  $5,000. 
That  amount  was  furnished  and  Brown  set  at  liberty. 
He  appeared  at  Columbus  for  trial.  The  District  Attor- 
ney was  assisted  by  Mr.  Otis.  Pending  the  trial,  affida- 
vits were  filed,  satisfying  the  judge  that  if  at  liberty 
when  the  verdict  would  be  rendered  and  if  that  verdict 
should  be  guilty,  it  was  the  intention  of  Brown's 
friends — of  whom  Columbus  was  full — to  put  him  out 
of  the  way  of  the  consequences.  A  bench  warrant  was 
issued  and  he  was  imprisoned.  He  was  convicted  and 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  incarcerated  in  the  Ohio 
Penitentiary,  though  he  had  run  a  career  of  crime  for 
over  twenty  years. 

299 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

The  Asiatic  Cholera  broke  out  in  the  penitentiary ; 
Brown  was  an  attendant  in  the  prison  hospital  at  the 
time  and  such  was  the  courage  with  which  he  cared  for 
the  cholera  patients  and  his  unwearied  attention  to 
them,  that  he  secured  the  influence  of  that  institution 
and  some  of  the  State  officers  in  his  behalf  so  that  Pres- 
ident Zachary  Taylor  pardoned  him.  He  returned  to 
Yellow  Creek  and  was  believed  to  be  as  extensively  en- 
gaged in  the  counterfeiting  business  as  ever  though  it 
was  not  known  that  he  then  dealt  in  spurious  coin.  Ex- 
perience had  taught  him  that  it  was  easier,  more  pro- 
fitable and  less  liable  to  detection  to  manfacture  false 
paper  money  than  coin.  A  few  years  later  he  was  ar- 
rested in  Michigan,  convicted  of  the  same  crime  and 
sentenced  to  the  Jackson  Penitentiary.  He  there  served 
a  full  term  of  three  years,  when  he  returned  to  Yellow 
Creek,  but  returned  a  broken  down  man  and  a  confirmed 
drunkard.  Not  until  now  did  his  fond  wife  give  him  up. 
His  habits  of  drink  rapidly  grew  upon  him;  his  good 
traits  began  to  deteriorate  and  finally  departed  all  to- 
gether ;  his  wife  obtained  a  divorce,  and  "Jim"  Brown, 
who  had  his  abilities  been  honorably  directed  might 
have  been  a  man  of  great  power  and  influence,  became  a 
worthless  fellow,  not  even  commanding  the  respect  of 
his  associates  in  crime.  Finally  in  1865,  as  he  was  one 
day  returning  from  Cleveland  upon  a  canal  boat,  he  fell 
from  the  walking  plank  to  the  hold,  striking  his  head 
upon  a  beam.  The  concussion  rendered  him  uncon- 
scious; from  that  state  he  never  rallied,  but  died  two 
or  three  days  later.  So,  miserably  closed  the  life  of  a 
man  of  whom  it  was  said  that,  **He  was  as  well  known 

300 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

by  reputation  as  any  President  of  the  United  States." 
During  the  early  times  in  Norton  township,  much 
counterfeit  money  was  in  circulation  and  suspicion 
pointed  to  persons  then  living  at  Johnson's  Corners. 
One  DeCoursey  was  generally  considered  to  be  the  ring- 
leader of  the  whole  crookedness.  He  was  a  sharp, 
shrewd  man — one  who  seemed  to  know  all  that  was  go- 
ing- on  in  the  whole  neighborhood ;  for  no  sooner  did 
the  justice  issue  a  warrant  for  his  arrest,  than  he  took 
to  the  woods,  where  he  would  remain  until  the  storm 
had  blown  over,  when  he  wold  again  make  his  appear- 
ance. At  one  time,  when  the  constable  came  to  arrest 
him,  DeCoursey  spied  him  coming  and  quick  as  thought 
he  pulled  off  his  coat,  tossed  it  to  George  Beach,  who 
was  with  him  at  the  time,  saying,  "Put  on  that  coat  and 
streak  for  the  woods."  Beach  did  not  wait  to  be  told 
a  second  time  but  ''streaked."  The  constable  and  posse 
took  after  him  full  speed.  Beach  ran  until  he  thought 
he  -had  carried  the  joke  far  enough,  when  he  turned 
around  and  faced  the  music  with  the  remark:  "What 

do  you  want?"    "Sucked,  by !"  said  the  constable. 

DeCoursey  in  the  meanwhile  had  time  to  escape.  About 
1825,  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Henry  Flickinger 
came  to  Johnson's  Corners  with  about  $300  in  money, 
which  was  good,  but  not  the  kind  that  would  pass  at  the 
land  office  where  he  wished  to  use  it  for  the  purpose  of 
buying  land.  DeCoursey  had  a  man  with  him  by  the 
name  of  Downs,  who  they  said,  could  exchange  money 
with  Flickinger;  this  Flickinger  was  glad  to  do,  but 

alas !  when  Flickinger  came  to  the  land  office  with  his 
money,  it  was  fond  to  be  spurious  Virginia  money.  He 
swore  out  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Downs,  before 

301 


EARLY  COUNTERFEITERS 

Esquire  Van  Hyning.  It  was  served  by  Henry  Spar- 
hawk,  the  constable,  who  found  his  man  at  Yellow 
Creek  Basin,  then  a  favorite  resort  for  counterfeiters 
and  horse  theives.  Downs  had  a  fine  horse  which  he 
rode.  They  proceeded  on  their  way  to  Norton,  but  had 
not  gone  far  when  Downs  took  to  the  woods  leaving  the 
horse  in  possession  of  the  constable  who  brought  it  to 
Norton,  gave  it  up  to  the  Esquire  who  in  turn  delivered 
it  to  Mr.  Flickinger,  who  thus  had  a  horse  for  his  $300. 
Suspicion  also  pointed  to  one  James  Hendershot.  After- 
wards, when  his  house  was  torn  down  soon  after  he  left, 
some  counterfeit  half  dollars  were  found  in  the  cellar. 
In  Northampton  the  Mallet  brothers  also  erected 
"a  mint"  on  a  lonely  isolated  point  of  land  densely  cov- 
ered with  timber  and  ever  since  known  as  the  "Money- 
shop."  Here  a  foundry  for  melting  mixed  metals  with 
molds,  dies,  plates  and  engravers  tools  were  kept  secret- 
ed. When  the  annoyance  to  the  citizens  of  this 
locality  from  the  presence  of  strange  and  suspicious 
visitors  became  no  longer  endurable,  a  public  meeting 
was  called  and  by  mutual  agreement  the  "mint"  was 
destroyed. 


BUILDING  OF  PERRY'S  VESSELS 

In  the  month  of  January,  1813,  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment of  the  U.  S.  found  it  necessary  to  build  a  number 
of  small  vessels  to  be  used  as  gunboats  on  Lake  Erie. 

The  contract  for  building  three  of  these  boats  was 
awarded  to  Brimel  Robins  of  Allegheny  Co.,  Pa.  He 
selected  Old  Portage,  on  the  Cuyahoga,  as  the  most  con- 
venient place  to  build  them.  The  size  of  the  river  at  Old 
Portage  today  makes  this  seem  quite  impossible  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  one  hundred  years  ago  this 
stream  was  much  larger.  The  timber  and  lumber  was 
furnished  by  Captains  Rice  and  Stowe.  It  was  sawed 
at  the  mill  of  Francis  and  Zenas  Kelsey  in  "Old  Cuya- 
hoga Village."  Stewart  Gaylod  superintended  the  con- 
struction at  the  boat  yard.  In  June  the  three  were 
launched  and  named  "Trippe",  "Tigress"  and  "Portage". 

Wm.  Coggswell,  a  pioneer  of  Granger  township, 
later  said,  "I  was  employed  with  others  to  float  these 
boats  down  the  river  to  Lake  Erie.  We  had  instructions 
to  furnish  each  boat  with  masts  and  spars  at  the 
"Pinery"  near  Peninsula.  While  we  were  detained  here 
for  several  days  awaiting  some  rigging  I  shot  a  porcu- 
pine and  threw  it  upon  the  deck  of  the  "Portage."  The 
animal  was  examined  with  much  curiosity  by  the  crew. 
They  immediately  renamed  their  boat  the  "Porcupine." 

When  they  arrived  at  Cleveland  the  gunboats  were 
examined  by  many  people.  Cleveland  at  that  time  was 
a  village  of  about  200  inhabitants.  The  boats  promptly 
went  into  commission  as  part  of  Perry's  fleet.  They 
did  good  service  during  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  Sept. 

303 


PERRY'S  VESSELS 

10,  1813.  Thus  did  good  old  Summit  oak  help  whip  the 
British. 

The  first  steamboat  built  and  launched  on  Lake 
Erie  was  christened  ''Walk-in-the-water."  She  was 
employed  in  running  between  Buffalo  and  Detroit  touch- 
ing at  all  intermediate  ports.  She  entered  Cleveland 
harbor  September  1st,  1818.  The  entire  populace  was 
out  to  greet  her  upon  her  arrival  and  give  her  a  royal 
welcome.  A  writer  says :  "She  was  regarded  with  in- 
tense interest  and  was  rightly  named  for  she  seemed 
'like  a  thing  of  life'  that  literally  walked  upon  the  water. 
Both  on  her  arrival  and  departure  she  was  greeted  with 
the  discharge  of  thirteen  rounds  of  artillery.  The  cap- 
tain acknowledged  the  salute  by  a  return  of  the  same 
number  of  guns  and  flung  to  the  breeze  from  the  mast- 
head the  glorious  banner  of  American  freedom.  The 
excited  citizens  could  not  restrain  their  joyful  expres- 
sions but  continued  to  fire  guns,  wave  hats  and  hand- 
kerchiefs and  utter  wild  hurrahs  until  the  majestic 
vision  disappeared  in  the  offing  on  her  way  to  Detroit.' 

The  first  steamboat  was  named  after  Chief  Walk- 
in-the-Water,  the  great  Wyandott  war  chief.  It  was 
he  who  related  to  General  Harrison,  the  night  after 
Perry's  victory,  the  Indian  tradition  of  the  first  battle 
on  Lake  Erie. 

Lorenzo  Carter  built  the  first  schooner  built  in 
Cleveland.  It  was  built  on  Superior  lane  and  launched 
at  the  foot  of  the  street  amid  great  excitement.  It  was 
of  thirty  tons  burden  and  was  named  the  **Zepher." 
This  vessel  was  commanded  by  Catpain  Stowe. 


NEW  PORTAGE  AS  AN  EARLY  PORT 

Thomas  Jefferson  in  his  notes  of  the  State  of  Vir- 
gina,  written  in  1781,  says:  'The  Muskingum  is  280 
yards  wide  at  its  mouth  and  200  yards  at  the  lower 
Indian  towns,  150  miles  upward."  This  means  that  the 
Tuscarawas  River  was  600  feet  wide  at  its  junction  with 
the  Muskingum,  it  then  being  considered  a  part  of  the 
Muskingum  and  was  called  the  Little  Muskingum.  He 
goes  on:  "It  is  navigable  for  small  batteaux  to  within 
one  mile  of  a  navigable  part  of  the  Cuyahoga  River 
which  runs  into  Lake  Erie."  If  this  then  was  true  pre- 
vious to  1781,  the  head  of  canoe  navigation  on  the  Cuya- 
hoga must  have  commenced  within  the  present  limits  of 
the  city  of  Akron,  while  canoe  navigation  on  the  Tusca- 
rawas extended  as  far  as  the  northern  shore  of  Summit 
Lake.  Evan's  map  of  the  Middle  Colonies,  1755,  gives 
the  rise  of  the  Tuscarawas  in  Summit  Lake  and  the 
Portage  between  the  two  rivers  as  one  mile.  Thomas 
Hutchison,  a  civil  engineer,  employed  by  Col.  Boquet, 
gives  the  same  facts  in  his  maps  published  in  1764. 
Heckwelder's  map  of  Northeastern  Ohio,  published  in 
1796,  although  his  knowledge  did  not  extend  beyond  the 
early  eighties  of  the  seventeenth  century,  confirms  all 
the  above  statements.  The  ancient  channel  running 
from  Summit  Lake  into  the  little  Cuyahoga  is  yet  clear- 
ly traceable,  proving  the  fact  that  at  one  time  the 
waters  of  that  lake  flowed  both  into  the  great  northern 
lakes  and  into  the  Gulf. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  surveyors  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  under  Moses  Cleveland,  established  the  fact 

305 


NEW  PORTAGE 

that  the  Portage  between  the  two  rivers  in  1796,  was  a 
little  over  eight  miles  in  length.  The  commencement 
of  the  south  Portage  or  that  on  the  Tuscarawas,  was 
called  ''New  Portage,"  while  the  commencement  of  the 
Portage  on  the  north,  or  that  on  the  Cuyahoga,  was 
called  ''Old  Portage,"  or,  "Upper  Headquarters,"  a 
point  that  later  on  was  to  become  famous  in  our  nation- 
al history. 

The  Ordinance  of  Freedom  or,  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  as  it  has  been  variously  called,  stated  that:  "The 
navigable  part  of  waters  leading  into  the  Mississippi 
and  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  carrying  places  between 
the  same,  shall  be  common  highways  and  forever  free, 
as  well  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  territory  as  to  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States."  Capt.  Thomas  Hutchins, 
in  a  work  published  in  London,  in  1788,  mentions  the 
carrying  places  between  the  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie  and 
says :  "From  Muskingum  to  Cuyahoga  is  the  best  port- 
age between  the  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie." 

The  Indians  had  used  this  portage  for  unnumbered 
generations.  This  was  the  treaty  line  agreed  upon  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  Indian  tribes  at  the 
treaty  at  Fort  Mcintosh  in  1785,  confirmed  by  the 
treaty  of  Greenville  and  by  later  treaties.  Thus  it  be- 
came the  western  boundary  line  between  the  United 
States  and  the  great  unknown,  recorded  as  the  Indian 
Nations. 

Tallmadge  Mills  or  Middlebury,  as  it  was  later 
known,  now  called  East  Akron  or  the  Sixth  Ward  was 
the  only  trading  place  for  many  miles  around  the  port- 
age in  the  early  pioneer  times.  Goods  for  this  point  was 

306 


NEW  PORTAGE 

shipped  in  those  earlier  days  by  the  way  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga to  Old  Portage.  It  was  no  uncommon  sight  m 
those  days  for  one  hundred  teams  to  load  or  unload  at 
this  place  on  Cuyahoga  River  flat  boats. 

Goods  from  the  south  were  received  at  New  Port- 
age via  the  Muskingum  and  the  Ohio.  From  this  point 
regular  lines  of  packet  boats  ran  directly  to  New 
Orleans  without  breaking  bulk.  "These  boats  were  long 
narrow  vessels,  frequently  dug  outs  as  they  were  called. 
They  were  from  twenty  to  forty  feet  long  and  from 
three  to  five  feet  wide  and  were  propelled  by  poles  while 
going  against  the  current.  Their  capacity  was  from  ten 
to  twelve  barrels  of  pork,  salt,  flour,  or  whiskey."  Salt 
sold  in  those  days  for  twenty  dollars  per  barrel  or  ten 
cents  per  pound,  while  a  barrel  of  whiskey  could  be 
bought  for  five  dollars,  fifteen  cents  per  gallon  or  even 
less. 

In  1819,  William  Laird  built  himself  a  cabin  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tuscarawas,  at  New  Portage  and  began 
the  construction  of  flat  boats  to  run  on  the  river.  These 
boats  were  loaded  with  all  kinds  of  products,  country 
produce,  etc.,  and  consigned  to  New  Orleans,  without 
transfer.  It  really  seems  strange  to  us  now  when  we 
see  school  children  wading  through  the  Tuscarawas  at 
New  Portage,  without  scarcely  wetting  their  ankles, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  virgin 
forests  had  scarcely  given  up  their  years  of  hidden 
moisture.  The  streams  in  those  days  were  wider, 
deeper,  and  ran  with  greater  velocity,  bank  full.  Then 
too,  this  was  before  the  Ohio  Canal  had  robbed  the 
gentle  Tuscarawas  of  its  waters  in  order  to  make  a 
great  artificial  waterway  connecting  the  northern  and 

307 


NEW  PORTAGE 

southern  shores  of  our  country.  This  packet  line  was 
an  object  lesson  to  the  world  and  through  it,  attention 
was  attracted  to  the  possibility  of  building  a  trans- 
national waterway  connecting  the  great  northern  lakes 
and  the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  with  those  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  Five  years  later  the  canal  commenced 
to  build  and  two  years  work  opened  it  to  the  Ohio.  This 
raised  the  price  of  wheat  from  twenty-five  cents  to  one 
dollar  per  bushel. 

Laird's  boats  passed  down  the  Tuscarawas  into  the 
Muskingum,  thence  into  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  and 
after  a  journey  of  some  two  months  reached  their  des- 
tination. 

Henry  Chittenden  of  Springfield,  Abram  Norton  of 
Tallmadge  Mills,  and  Philander  Adams  of  Tallmadge 
township  were  contractors  and  speculators  in  country 
produce  and  shipped  almost  exclusively  by  the  Laird 
line. 

Alas !  How  the  mighty  have  fallen !  Today  even 
New  Portage  has  lost  its  ancient  and  time  honored 
name  and  our  children  and  our  children's  children  will 
only  know  it  as  Barberton,  the  Magic  City  of  Northern 
Ohio. 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

And  that  bold-hearted  yeoman, 

Honest  and  true, 
Who,  haters  of  fraud,  give  to 

Labor  its  due: 
Will  the  sons  of  such  men 

Yield  to  the  lords  of  the  south 
One  brow  for  the  brand, 

— For  the   pad-lock,  one   mouth? 
They  cater  to  tyrants — 

They  rivet  the  chain, 
Whifh   their  fathers   smote   off, 

On  the  negro  again? 

No  Never! — one  voice. 

Like  the  sound  in  the  cloud. 
When  the  roar  of  the  storm 

Waxes  loud  and  more  loud, 
Wherever  the  foot  of  the  freeman 

Hath  prest 
From  the  great  River's  marge 

To  the  Lake  of  the  West, 
On  the  south  going  breezes 

Shall  deepen  and  grow 
Till  the  land  it  sweeps 

Over  shall  tremble  below! 
The  voice  of  a  PEOPLE— 

Uprisen — awake — 
The  Western  Reserve's  watchword, 

With  freedom  at  stake. 
Thrilling  up  from  each  valley 

Pl'ung  down  from  each  height 
OUR  COUNTRY  AND  LIBERTY! 

GOD  FOR  THE  RIGHT! 

— Whittier. 


309 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

In  the  days  of  slavery,  the  Reserve,  the  land  of 
Freedom  and  freedom  loving  people,  was  the  natural 
highway  for  escaping  slaves  on  their  way  to  Canada. 
Here  they  could  obtain  food,  aid,  transportation,  sym- 
pathy and  the  prayers  of  a  people  of  a  land  that  had 
never  borne  the  tread  of  slaves. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787,  the  Magna  Charter  of  our 
liberties,  the  Ordinance  of  Freedom,  as  it  has  been 
called,  says :  "No  man  shall  be  deprived  of  his  liberty 
or  property  but  by  the  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  the 
law  of  the  land."  And  again  it  says :  ''And  for  extend- 
ing the  fundamental  principles  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  which  form  the  basis  whereon  these  republics, 
their  laws  and  constitutions  are  erected."  Again, 
''There  shall  be  neither  slavery  or  involuntary  servi- 
tude in  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  the  punish- 
ment of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted."  These  rights  guaranteed  to  us  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  ten  years  before  the 
lands  east  of  the  Cuyahoga  River  and  nineteen  years 
before  the  lands  of  the  Western  Reserve,  on  the  west 
side  of  said  river  were  surveyed,  were  and  are  the  bul- 
wark of  our  liberties. 

That  the  underground  railways  were  fully  and 
systematically  established,  reaching  from  the  Ohio 
River  on  the  south  and  east  and  extending  to  Lake 
Erie  on  the  north,  no  one  in  this  day  doubts.  Unfor- 
tunately these  escapes  were  aided  in  the  darkness  and 
secrecy.  Therefore  no  records  have  ever  been  pre- 
served nor  were  those  participating  in  these  escapes 
ever  inclined  to  talk  concerning  them,  for  obvious  rea- 
sons.   The  writer  was  but  a  lad  during  the  time  of  the 

310 


THE   UNDrlRGROUND  RAILWAY 

working  of  this  human  railway  line  but  well  knows  that 
his  father  and  neighbors  assisted  in  these  migrations. 
Mathew  Borland  was  one  of  the  railroad's  most  active 
agents  in  our  neighborhood.  The  writer,  although  a 
grandson  of  a  slave-holder,  beheld  his  father  lending  all 
aid  and  comfort  in  his  power  to  escaping  slaves.  W.  A. 
Goodspeed  says :  "William  Beers  was  a  great  friend  to 
the  escaping  slaves  and  assisted  many  of  them  in 
reaching  Canada.  One  named  Lewis  Boler  came  from 
Kentucky  and  not  fearing  pursuit  hired  out  to  Beers 
with  whom  he  remained  a  year  or  more.  Finally  his 
master  appeared  but  meeting  with  decided  rebuffs  from 
Beers,  he  resorted  to  the  plan  of  coaxing  his  slave  to 
return  with  himx  to  Kentucky.  But  the  wily  slave 
could  not  be  deceived  by  promises  and  was  in  conse- 
quence a  few  nights  afterwards  forcibly  taken  secretly 
and  hurriedly  tov/ards  his  former  home  in  the  Sunny 
South.  Beers,  upon  learning  of  the  act,  summoned  a 
few  of  his  neighbors  and  together  they  pursued  the 
master  and  despite  his  protests  returned  him  to  Boston 
with  Boler.  The  latter  was  told  to  push  for  Canada, 
which  he  accordingly  did,  arriving  there  in  safety.  An- 
other escaping  slave  named  Sandy  came  to  Beers  and 
obtained  employment.  His  master  came  on  and  made 
all  sorts  of  promises  to  induce  him  to  return  to  the 
south,  offering  to  make  a  boss  or  overseer  of  him  and 
to  make  him  a  present  of  a  dog  and  a  beautiful  white 
pony.  Sandy  could  not  resist  these  offerings  and  re- 
turned with  his  master."  Prior  to  1860,  a  well  traveled 
line  of  the  underground  railways  crossed  Franklin 
township.  Summit  Co.,  being  confined  to  what  is  known 
as  Chestnut  Ridge,  with  occasional  side  tracks.  Promi- 

311 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

nent  officials  on  this  road  were  Alexander  Russell, 
James  Hile,  Harvey  Maranville,  Washington  Heffleman 
and  Geo.  Wirt.  These  men  lost  no  opportunity  of  assist- 
ing runaway  slaves  to  Canada. 

On  one  occasion  Messrs.  Russell  and  Maranville 
were  notified  that  five  slaves — two  women  and  three 
men — were  west  of  Clinton  in  the  heavy  woods  on 
Chestnut  Ridge,  awaiting  food  and  clothing.  They 
were  supplied  and  directed  on  their  way  to  the  next 
station.  On  another  occasion,  a  settler  in  the  township 
who  had  come  from  Kentucky  seeing  a  negro  traveling 
northward  through  the  woods  with  a  gun  on  his 
shoulder,  ran  after  him  and  took  away  the  gun  saying: 
**It's  against  the  law  for  nig's  to  carry  a  gun."  Shortly 
afterwards  he  was  informed  to  return  the  gun  or 
trouble  would  ensue,  whereupon  he  did,  very  reluctant- 
ly. Upon  being  questioned  as  to  where  he  had  obtained 
the  gun,  the  negro  replied  that  "Massa  Wales  of  Mas- 
silon"  had  given  it  to  him  to  kill  partridges  and  other 
game  while  traveling  north.  Wales  was  probably  a 
train  despatcher  on  this  road.  John  Hall  of  Spring- 
field township,  often  took  negroes  who  were  closely 
pursued  by  their  masters  and  having  concealed  them 
several  days  at  his  residence,  placed  them  in  his  closed 
carriage  and  conveyed  them  the  entire  distance  to 
Cleveland,  where  he  saw  them  safely  on  board  Cana- 
dian-bound steamboats  before  he  left." 

These  men  were  simply  exemplifying  the  com- 
mand "love  thy  neighbor  as  thy-self." 

Among  the  best  known  agents  of  the  underground 
railroad  in  Northern  Ohio,  was  "Uncle  John  Finney," 

312 


THE   UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

as  he  was  familiarly  known.  During  twenty-five  years 
that  he  was  engaged  in  this  work,  hundreds  of  fugi- 
tive slaves  were  carried  by  wagons  from  one  point  to 
another  and  day  or  night,  Uncle  Finney's  teams  and  his 
personal  services  were  always  ready  on  demand.  Un- 
less pursuit  was  very  close,  these  escaping  slaves  were 
always  kept  at  his  home  over  night  and  sometimes  for 
days  when  they  were  forwarded  by  wagon  to  Savannah, 
Oberlin  or  other  points.  He  usually  left  home  long  be- 
fore daylight  and  arrived  in  Oberlin  during  the  early 
evening.  Having  reached  this  point,  they  were  safe, 
as  public  opinion  was  such  that  no  slave  hunt  could  be 
held  there. 

One  night  in  mid-winter,  two  negroes  and  their 
wives  came  to  his  house  nearly  frozen ;  they  had  crossed 
the  Ohio  River  on  ice  and  had  come  safely  on  foot,  this 
far.  They  were  fed,  clothed,  kept  several  days  and 
sent  on  their  way  rejoicing.  Five  and  seven  miles  away, 
there  were  two  of  Finney's  sub-agencies. 

One  time,  five  men  and  five  or  six  women  and  child- 
ren were  brought  to  Finney's  house.  He  lodged  the 
females  in  the  upper  story  of  his  dwelling  and  the  men 
in  the  granary.  Slave  hunters,  learning  that  they  were 
secreted  about  the  premises,  made  a  demand  for  their 
delivery.  He  demanded  their  warrant  and  as  they  could 
not  produce  this,  the  party  divided,  one  half  of  them 
proceeding  to  Mansfield  in  search  of  a  warrant  and  the 
other  half  remaining  to  watch  the  premises.  Finney 
sent  word  to  his  friends,  armed  the  darkies  with  pitch- 
forks and  in  order  to  gain  time,  invited  the  slave  hunt- 
ers into  the  house  to  breakfast.  He  consumed  as  much 
time  as  possible  and  while  the   men   were   eating   the 

313 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

darkies  found  an  opening  and  escaped  to  the  woods. 
When  the  warrant  arrived,  Finney's  friends,  all  well 
armed  had  also  arrived.  Finney  delivered  the  keys  of 
the  granary  to  the  officer  who  found  the  nest  empty  and 
the  birds  flown.  The  slave  hunters  at  once  began  a 
search  of  the  neighborhood  while  the  women  and 
chilrren  were  transfered  to  the  care  of  one  of  Finney's 
sub-agencies  and  from  this  station  they  were  imme- 
diately forwarded  to  another  and  from  there  to  other 
points,  finally  escaping.  The  male  slaves  were  all 
rounded  up  in  the  woods  and  also  sent  on  their  way  to 
Canada. 

Another  time,  a  colored  woman  and  her  two 
daughters  came  to  his  house.  He  took  them  as  far  as 
Mansfield  and  tried  to  get  others  to  forward  them 
along,  failing  in  this,  he  bought  a  load  of  flour,  stipulat- 
ing that  it  should  be  delivered  in  Oberlin.  He  then  gave 
the  teamster  three  dollars  to  take  the  females  along 
with  him. 

One  very  cold  day,  an  escaping  slave  from  New 
Orleans,  came  to  Finney's  house  and  remained  with  him 
until  warm  weather  came.  This  slave  had  been  sold 
eleven  times,  could  read  and  write  and  at  last  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  Queen's  dominions.  Graham,  in  his  his- 
tory of  Richland  county  says:  'Three  colored  boys 
came  to  Iberia  for  the  purpose  of  getting  an  education. 
They  had  been  there  a  year  or  two  and  had  progressed 
very  well,  but  the  blood  hounds  were  on  their  track.  As 
the  train  neared  Iberia,  one  evening,  the  bell-rope  was 
pulled,  the  train  slackened,  and  a  party  of  slave  hunt- 
ers with  a  deputy  marshall  at  their  head,  sprang  off. 

314 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

The  boys  were  at  different  places  and  one  or  two  of 
them  were  captured.  This  caused  intense  excitement. 
The  people  collected  rapidly,  caught  the  marshal  and  his 
slave-hunters  and  after  a  consultation,  allowed  the 
darkies  to  ''cut  their  hair  and  use  beech  sprouts'*  on 
them  to  such  an  extent  as  was  deemed  necessary.  The 
citizens  engaging  in  this  affair  expected  troble  and  sent 
to  Cleveland  for  an  eminent  lawyer  to  engage  in  their 
defense.  The  services  of  Richard  Parsons,  a  man  who 
had  the  year  before  been  elected  to  Congress,  were  se- 
cured. When  told  that  he  would  be  expected  to  manage 
the  case  for  a  small  compensation,  promised  to  do  all  in 
his  power  and  if  necessary  would  employ  an  attorney 
in  Northern  Ohio  to  assist  him.  He  not  only  agreed  to 
do  the  work  gratuitously,  but  said  if  they  were  fined,  he 
would  help  pay  it.  Rev.  Geo.  Gordon,  President  of  the 
college  at  Iberia,  was  the  man  the  slave-power  resolved 
to  humble.  He  was  indicted,  tried,  convicted  and  sen- 
tenced to  pay  a  fine  of  $300  and  to  suffer  imprisonment 
for  six  months.  His  name  will  go  down  as  one  of  the 
martyrs  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom."  Mr.  Gordon 
was  pardoned  out  of  jail  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  par- 
don did  not  recognize  his  innocence  and  he  refused  to 
leave  his  cell  until  compelled  to  do  so  by  his  friends. 
The  jail  had  however  done  its  work,  the  seeds  of  con- 
sumption had  been  contracted  within  its  walls,  and  "the 
friend  of  the  slave"  soon  lay  down  his  life  as  the  result 
of  his  love  for  the  human  race. 

And  Richard  Parsons,  of  Cuyahoga,  what  of  him  ? 
The  defender  of  the  poor  and  oppressed,  the  friend  of 
the  slave,  the  living  exponent  of  human  liberty.  His 
name  deserves  to  be  engraved  on  the  scroll  of  fame  and 

315 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

to  be  remembered  by  generations  of  the  freedom  loving 
yet  unborn. 

Oberlin  was  the  most  important  station  on  the  un- 
derground raikoad.  To  reach  Oberlin  was  to  reach  safe- 
ty. Of  the  multitude  of  fugatives  who  came,  not  one 
was  ever  taken  back  to  bondage.  President  Fairchild 
in  his  work,  "Oberlin,  the  colony,  and  the  College"  says : 
"Not  to  deliver  to  his  master  the  servant  that  had  es- 
caped from  his  master,  seemed  to  the  people  of  Oberlin 
a  solemn  and  pressing  duty.  This  attitude  exposed  the 
college  and  the  community  to  much  reproach  and  some- 
times apparently  to  serious  danger.  Threats  came  from 
abroad  that  the  college  buildings  should  be  burned.  A 
Democratic  Legislature  at  different  times  agitated  the 
question  of  repealing  the  college  charter.  The  fourth 
and  last  attempt  was  made  in  1842,  when  the  bill  for  re- 
peal was  indefinitely  postponed  by  a  vote  of  thirty-six 
to  twenty-nine. 

The  people  in  the  neighboring  towns  were,  at  the 
outset,  not  in  sympathy  with  Oberlin  in  its  anti-slavery 
movement  and  position.  They  agreed  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  in  regarding  it  as  an  unmitigated  fanaticism. 
The  feeling  was  often  bitter  and  intense  and  an  Oberlin 
man  going  out  from  home  in  any  direction  was  liable  to 
be  assailed  with  bitter  words  and  if  he  ventured  to  lec- 
ture upon  the  unpopular  theme,  he  was  fortunate  if  he 
encountered  words  only;  of  course  the  self  respectful 
part  of  the  community  w^ould  take  no  part  in  such  abuse 
but  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  felt  themselves  sustained 
by  the  common  feeling.  On  the  Middle  Ridge  Road,  six 
miles  north  of  Oberlin,  a  guide  board  put  up  by  the  au- 
thorities stood  for  years,  pointing  the  way  to  Oberlin, 

316 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

not  by  the  ordinary  index  finger,  but  by  the  full-length 
figure  of  a  fugitive  running  with  all  his  might  to  reach 
the  place.  The  tavern  sign,  four  miles  east,  was  orna- 
mented on  its  Oberlin  face  with  the  representation  of  a 
fugitive  slave  pursued  by  a  tiger.  Where  general  feel- 
ing yielded  such  result,  not  much  could  be  expected  in 
the  way  of  sympathy  for  fugitives.  But  even  among 
these  people  the  slave  catcher  had  little  favor.  They 
would  thwart  his  pursuit  in  every  way  and  shelter  the 
fugitive  if  they  could.  Only  the  meanest  and  most  mer- 
cenary could  be  hired  to  betray  the  victim.  Now  and 
then  an  official  felt  called  upon  to  extend  aid  and  com- 
fort to  the  slave  hunter  who  claimed  his  services,  but  he 
could  expect  no  toleration  from  his  neighbors  in  such  a 
course.  A  whole  neighborhood  would  suddenly  find 
themselves  abolitionists  upon  the  appearance  of  a  slave 
hunter  among  them  and  by  repeated  occurences  of  this 
kind,  as  much  as  by  any  other  means,  Lorain  County 
and  all  Northern  Ohio  became  at  length,  intensely  anti- 
slavery  in  feeling  and  action.'* 

About  the  last  attempt  to  recover  a  fugitive  slave 
in  Northern  Ohio,  under  the  old  fugitive  slave  law  of 
1850,  occured  September  13,  1858.  There  had  been  for 
some  time  in  Oberlin,  a  fugitive  slave  from  Kentucky 
by  the  name  of  John  Price.  United  States  Marshal 
Lowe  and  his  deputy,  Samuel  Davis  of  Columbus,  ar- 
rived. Price,  by  ruse,  was  coaxed  out  of  Oberlin,  when 
he  was  seized  by  the  above  named  officers,  assisted  by 
Mitchell  and  Jennings,  two  Kentuckians.  The  whole 
party  was  then  driven  over  to  Wellington,  a  distance  of 
eight  miles.  There  had  been  a  fire  in  Wellington  and  a 
large  crowd  was  in  town;  these  were  soon  augmented 

317 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

by  a  crowd  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Oberlin  who  were 
red-hot  on  the  trail  of  the  negro  catchers.  Wellington's 
Hotel  was  soon  surrounded  and  the  negro  rescued. 

Warrants  were  soon  issued  by  the  United  States 
District  Court  for  thirteen  persons  in  Wellington  and 
twenty-four  from  Oberlin.  Five  of  the  men  were  fined 
$20  and  costs  and  sent  to  jail  for  one  day.  Two  of  the 
Oberlin  men  were  fined  and  imprisoned,  Simeon  Bush- 
nell  suffered  a  fine  of  $600  and  sixty  days  imprison- 
ment. Chas.  H.  Langston,  a  colored  man,  was  fined 
$100,  and  sentenced  to  twenty  days  in  jail.  Twelve  of 
the  Oberlin  men  remained  in  jail  in  Cleveland  for 
months.  During  the  time  of  their  imprisonment,  an 
immense  mass  meeting  was  held  in  Cleveland.  This 
meeting  was  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  sympathy 
for  the  prisoners  and  their  detestation  of  the  fugitive 
slave  law.  People  came  from  all  over  Northern  Ohio 
and  an  immense  procession  with  many  banners 
marched  through  the  streets  and  surrounded  the  jail. 
The  meeting  was  addressed  by  Joshua  R.  Giddings  in 
his  usual  bold  and  defiant  manner.  The  Governor  of 
the  State,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  also  addressed  the  meet- 
ing; 400  Sunday  School  children  from  Oberlin  came 
over  in  a  body.  The  meeting  was  orderly  and  law 
abiding. 

After  months  of  imprisonment  the  men  were  re- 
leased; they  were  escorted  from  the  prison  to  the 
train  by  several  hundred  citizens  with  bands  playing 
and  the  firing  of  100  guns  on  the  public  square.  Such 
was  the  atmosphere  in  which  John  Brown  of  Ossawa- 

318 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

tomie,  breathed.  Freedom  was  in  the  very  air  of  the 
Reserve. 

On  their  arrival  in  OberHn  they  were  escorted  to 
the  great  church  where,  until  midnight,  the  penned  up 
feelings  of  the  people  found  expression  in  song  and 
prayer.  Such  a  time  has  never  been  seen  before  or 
since.  A  Democratic  paper,  published  in  Cleveland  said 
that  night  "So  the  government,  at  last  has  been  beaten ; 
with  law,  justice  and  facts  all  on  its  side  and  Oberlin 
with  its  rebellious  higher  law  creed  triumphant."  It 
should  have  gone  farther  and  said :  "The  voice  of  the 
people  is  the  voice  of  God." 

One  bright,  sunny,  afternoon  in  the  month  of 
September,  1823,  a  negro  and  his  wife  and  two  children 
passed  through  Bloomfield,  on  their  way  to  Ashtabula. 

Nearly  dark  on  the  same  day,  three  dusty,  dirty, 
way-worn  travelers  rode  up  to  the  tavern  and  an- 
nounced themselves  as  slave  hunters. 

"Have  ye  heard  of  our  hunting,  o'er  mountain  and  glen. 
Through  cane  break  and  forest — the  hunting  of  men  ? 

0,  goodly  and  grand  is  our  hunting  to  see, 

In  this  land  of  the  brave  and  this  home  of  the  free, 

Gay  luck  to  our  hunters!     How  nobly  they  ride 

In  the  glow  of  their  zeal  and  the  strength  of  their  pride." 

These  men  were  very  weary  and  were  no  match  for 
Yankee  diplomacy  and  it  was  easy  for  the  crafty  land- 
lord to  persuade  them  to  stay  over  night.  Esquire 
Brown  got  out  his  wagon,  others  went  to  warn  and 
secrete  the  negroes  who  were  found  at  a  house  near 
Rome,  Ashtabula  County. 

The  morning  came  but  every  one  seemed  to  have 
overslept,  breakfast  could  not  be  served  because  the 

319 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

stove  would  not  work.  The  horses  could  not  be  fed  as 
the  key  to  the  barn  door  had  been  lost.  The  black- 
smith shop  was  visited  but  the  smith  was  absent.  When 
the  stable  was  finally  opened,  it  was  found  that  each 
one  of  the  horses  had  cast  a  shoe  during  the  night.  The 
blacksmith  was  again  visited  but  he  had  no  nails,  the 
fire  was  out  and  he  must  make  new  shoes.  So  it  was 
well  on  towards  noon  before  our  gay  slave  hunters  rode 
out  of  town.  Hardly  were  they  out  of  sight  before  Es- 
quire Brown  drove  in  town  v/ith  the  fugitives.  They 
were  secreted  in  the  forest  and  food  was  carried  to 
them  each  day.  Finally  they  were  placed  upon  a  boat 
for  Canada  and  their  fare  paid. 

Randolph,  Portage  County,  was  also  a  station  of 
the  Underground  Railway.  In  October,  1846,  General 
William  Steadman,  formerly  U.  S.  Consul  to  Santiago 
de  Cuba,  made  a  trip  to  Granville.  There  he  overtook 
John  and  Harriet,  two  colored  fugitives,  who  having 
bid  defiance  to  their  bonds,  were  cautiously  threading 
their  way  to  Canada.  The  General  assisted  them  in 
getting  to  Randolph,  a  flag  station  on  the  "Under- 
ground Railway."  Mead  and  Brainerd  who  were  en- 
gaged in  carrying  on  steam  flouring  and  sawing  one 
and  one  half  miles  southeast  from  the  center,  in  a 
secluded  locality,  employed  these  runaways,  who  were 
subsequently  claimed  to  be  the  property  of  one  Mitchell 
in  West  Virginia.  The  alleged  owner,  receiving  infor- 
mation of  their  whereabouts,  sought  to  recover  his 
property. 

On  a  rainy  Saturday  evening  early  in  May,  1847, 
two  men  with  teams  and  heavy  wagons  drove  up  to  the 
Randolph  Hotel  and  engaged  lodgings.    Soon  after  ten 

320 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY 

Ohio  River  boatmen  in  sailor  dress  and  two  gentlemen- 
\y  looking  young  men  were  seen  making  their  way  east 
to  the  mill  road.  The  news  of  their  way  was  quickly 
conveyed  to  Mead  and  Brainerd  who  at  once  secreted 
the  fugitives  in  the  attic  of  Mead's  house,  to  which  the 
kidnappers  soon  arrived.  With  axes  in  hand  Messrs. 
Mead  and  Brainerd  kept  the  party  at  bay  during  a  par- 
ley until  the  citizens  came  in  large  numbers  from  all 
directions,  surrounding  the  rescuing  party  and  con- 
ducted them  back  to  the  hotel,  where  they  were  guard- 
ed until  early  morning,  when  they  were  escorted  by  the 
Randolph  citizens  to  Deerfield,  thence  by  two  trusty 
spies  across  the  Ohio  River.  The  fugitives  remained 
secreted  and  a  week  later  a  long-to-be-remembered 
wedding  took  place,  attended  by  scores  of  the  best  citi- 
zens of  Randolph.  After  being  made  one,  the  fugitives 
were  taken  to  Painesville  and  subsequently  landed  in 
Canada. 


day: 


JOHN  BROWN  OF  OSSAWATOMIE 
John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie  spake  on  his  dying 

'"I  will  not  have  to  shrive  my  soul 

A  priest  of  slavery's  pay. 
But  let  some  poor  slave-mother, 

Whom  I  have  striven  to  free. 
With  her  children,  from  the  gallows-stair, 

Put  up  a  prayer  for  me!  " 

John  Brown  of  Ossawatomi, 

They  led  him  out  to  die; 
And  lo!     A  poor  slave-mother 

With  her  little  child  pressed  nigh. 
Then  the  bold  blue  eye  grew  tender 

And  the  old  harsh  face  grew  mild, 
As  he  stooped  between  the  jeering  ranks 

And  kissed   the  negroe's   child! 

The  shadows  of  his  stormy  life 

That  moment  fell  apart; 
And  they  who  blamed  the  bloody  hand, 

Forgave  the  loving  heart. 
That  kiss  from  all  its  guilty  means 

Redeemed  the  good  intent. 
And  round  the  grisly  fighter's  hair, 

The  martyr's  aureole  bent! 

Perish  with  him  the  folly. 

That  seeks  through  evil  good! 
Long  live  the  generous  purpose 

Unstained  with  human  blood! 
Not   the  raid   of  midnight  terror. 

But  the  thought  which  underlies; 
Not  the  border's  pride  of  daring. 
But  the  Christian's  sacrifice. 

— Whittier. 

322 


OP'     O.-S  S  O  V>y />,-TO  ■^.■J  S:_^- 


7■  >^3:  i- » '•' *  *    TT-n  V*.««  Out, 


JOHN  BROWN  OF  OSSAWATOMIE 

It  was  the  fugitive  Slave  Act  and  its  operation, 
that  made  the  northern  states  so  intensely  anti-slavery 
in  sentiments  that  a  slave  catcher  would  not  be  tolerat- 
ed on  the  soil.  One  anti-slave  advocate  in  a  neighbor- 
hood or  a  township  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  soon 
make  the  whole  township  anti-slavery. 

Such  was  the  atmosphere  under  which  that 
strange  historical  character,  whom  the  world  has 
never  fully  understood,  John  Brown,  of  Ossowa- 
tomie,  breathed  and  had  his  being.  Freedom  was 
in  the  very  air  of  the  Reserve.  A  large  part  of  his  in- 
spiration was  drawn  from  the  teachings  of  that  emi- 
nent man,  Dr.  Henry  M.  Storrs,  the  first  President  of 
the  Western  Reserve  College  of  Hudson,  the  town  in 
which  Brown  resided. 

John  Brown  was  born  in  1800  and  at  the  age  of 
five  came  to  Hudson,  Summit  County,  with  his  parents. 
He  was  destined  for  the  ministry  but  on  account  of  his 
poor  eyesight,  he  worked  for  his  father  at  farming  and 
tanning  until  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  married 
Dianthe  Lusk  of  Hudson,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons  and 
one  daughter.  His  wife  dying,  he  was  married  to  Mary 
A.  Day,  by  whom  he  had  13  children;  seven  sons  and 
six  daughters.  He  remained  in  Hudson  some  twenty- 
one  years  when  he  moved  to  Pennsylvania.  He  re- 
turned to  Ohio  again  in  1833,  settling  at  Kent.  In 
1840  he  removed  to  Richfield  entering  the  sheep  and 
wool  business  in  company  with  Capt.  Heman  Oviatt  of 
Hudson.  Here  he  established  a  tannery.  In  1844  he 
removed  to  Perkin's  Hill  and  occupied  the  house  across 

324 


JOHN  BROWN  OF  OSSAWATOMIE 

the  street  from  the  old  Perkin's  mansion.  Here  he 
was  associated  with  Col.  Simon  Perkins  in  the  sheep 
and  wool  business,  establishing  a  successful  business 
in  Springfield,  Massachusetts.    Disaster  again  overtook 

him. 

When  Kansas  was  created  several  sons  and  sons- 
in-law  "squatted"  on  that  dark  and  bloody  land.  The 
pro-slavery  ruffian  element  destroyed  their  crops, 
burned  their  barns,  murdered  one,  and  drove  another 
into  insanity.  His  blood  boiling  with  indignation,  John 
Brown  struck  for  ''Bleeding  Kansas." 

By  his  coolness  and  bravery  he  soon  became  the 
leader  of  the  anti-slavery  faction.  He  made  raids  on 
the  camps  of  imported  southern  citizens  who  had  come 
to  drive  Freedom  from  out  of  the  state  and  establish 
another  slave  state. 

At  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Ossawatomle,  he 
generaled  but  a  handfull  of  men  with  such  rare  ability 
and  utter  fearlessness  that  he  routed  a  large  force  of 
border  ruffians  which  gave  him  the  name  of  "Old  Was- 
sotomie."  This  struggle  continued  four  years  and 
finally  resulted  in  admitting  Kansas  as  a  free  state. 

Brown  returned  to  New  York,  where  from  friends 
and  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society,  he  obtained  $4,000  in 
cash  and  double  that  amount  in  munitions  and  arms  of 

war. 

He  came  to  Akron  in  1856,  holding  several  meet- 
ings which  resulted  in  his  securing  a  small,  one  story, 
stone  building  on  Broadway,  just  north  of  Exchange 
Street,  which  was  called  John  Brown's  Arsenal,  the 
basement  of  which  was  stored  with  rifles,  shot  guns, 
revolvers,  pistols,  swords,  butcher  knives,  powder  and 

3?5 


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JOHN  BROWN  OF  OSSAWATOMIE 

lead.  This  building  is  yet  in  a  splendid  state  of  preser- 
vation. State  arms  stored  in  the  jail  and  two  cases  of 
arms  of  a  Tallmadge  company  were  fond  to  be  missing 
but  no  one  saw  fit  to  search  Brown's  Armory. 

In  1858  he  instituted  in  Chatham,  Canada,  the 
"True  Friends  of  Freedom."  He  was  elected  Comman- 
der-in-chief and  J.  H.  Kagi,  Secretary  of  War. 

After  having  made  a  great  number  of  long- 
handled  pikes  for  use  of  negroes,  he  in  1859  made  his 
headquarters  at  Kennedy  farm,  five  miles  from  Har- 
per's Ferry,  where  one  of  the  great  Arsenals  of  the 
United  States  was  located. 

Here  he  proceeded  to  put  the  visionary  dream  of 
a  lifetime  into  practical  effect.  With  a  force  of  but 
twenty-one  men,  as  wreckless  and  dare-devilish  as  him- 
self he  made  an  unexpected  attack  on  the  U.  S.  Arsenal 
at  Harper's  Ferry.  For  nearly  two  days  he  held  the 
town,  the  National  troops  and  the  militia  of  Virginia 
at  bay.  His  brave  defense  of  the  round  house  has  gone 
down  in  history  and  challenges  admiration  of  the 
world  for  its  deeds  of  reckless  daring  and  conscientious 
valor  in  trying  to  break  the  shackles  from  off  the  slave 
and  give  to  him  that  freedom  which  God  guarantees 
every  man. 

Thirteen  of  Brown's  brave  men  made  the  supreme 
sacrifice,  among  them  two  of  Brown's  sons.  Two  made 
their  escape  and  the  remainder  including  Brown,  were 
taken  prisoners. 

Brown  was  tried  for  treason.  He  was  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  be  hung.  This  sentence  was  carried 
out  Dec.  2,  1859. 

John  Brown  the  tool,  John  Brown  the  victim,  John 

327 


JOHN  BROWxN  OF  OSSAWATOMIE 

Brown  the  fanatic  is  dead;  and  in  his  place  the  great 
heart  of  America  has  canonized  a  saint.  Brown  living 
had  no  following,  no  power ;  but  Brown  dead,  became  a 
saint,  deified  by  the  sentiment  of  a  free  north.  The 
news  of  his  raid,  his  trial,  his  death  and  the  bitterness 
engendered  electrified  the  whole  north  and  shook  it  to 
its  very  center. 

"His  Soul  Goes  Marching  On." 

In  the  gloaming  of  those  fall  days,  I  can  remember 
the  farmers  congregating  in  the  fence  corners  and  dis- 
cussing in  low  tones,  John  Brown  and  the  country.  The 
consensus  of  opinion  was  that  breakers  were  close 
ahead,  the  clouds  of  gloom  and  disaster  were  lowering 
around  the  great  Republic,  men's  hearts  grew  tender 
and  stern  with  varying  moods,  but  patriotism  grew 
and  the  love  of  liberty  intensified.  The  sentiment  of 
the  Northland  solidified  and  when  conjecture  became  a 
fact,  the  people  were  ready  for  it,  resigned  to  manly 
sacrifice  of  blood  and  treasure,  for  freedom.  That 
great  incubus  of  human  slavery  was  doomed.  The 
hearts  of  the  people  first  wrote  the  emancipation  pro- 
clamation in  tears  and  sighs  and  blood.    Whittier  said : 

"Thenceforth  our  life  a  fight  became. 

The  air  we  breathed  was  hot  with  blame; 
For  not  with  gauged  and  softened  tone 

We  made  the  bondsmen  cause  our  own. 

We  bore,  as  Freedom's  hope  forlorn. 

The  private  hate,  the  public  scorn; 
Yet  held  through  all  the  paths  we  trod 

Our  faith  in  man  and  trust  in  God. 

328 


JOHN  BROWN  OF  OSSAWATOMIE 

We  prayed  and  hoped;  but  still  with  awe, 
The  coining  of  the  sword  we  saw; 

We  heard  the  nearing  steps  of  doom, 

We  saw  the  shade  of  things  to  come. 

In  grief  which  they  alone  can  feel 

Who  from  a  mother's  wrong  appeal, 

With  blended  lines  of  fear  and  hope 
We  cast  our  country's  horoscope. 

Deep  as  our  love  of  her  became 

Our  hate  of  all  that  wrought  her  shame. 

And  if,  thereby,  with  tongue  and  pen 
We  erred, — we  were  but  mortal  men. 

We  hoped  for  peace;  our  eyes  survey 

The  blood-red  dawn  of  Freedom's  day; 

We  prayed  for  love  to  loose  the  chain; 
'Tis  shorn  by  battle's  axe  in  twain! 

Nor  skill  nor  strength  nor  zeal  of  ours 

Has  mined  and  heaved  the  hostile  towers; 

Not  by  our  hands  is  turned  the  key 
That  sets  the  sighing  captive  free. 

A  redder  sea  than  Egypt's  waves 

Is  piled  and  parted  for  the  slave; 
A  darker  cloud  moves  on  in  light; 

A  fiercer  fire  is  guide  by  night!" 

Thus  we  have  traced  the  ''Spirit  of  Freedom"  in 
the  Western  Reserve  from  the  dusky  savage  to  the 
citizen  of  the  twentieth  century. 

May  "Freedom"  ever  rule. 


229 


JOHN  BROWN'S  MONUMENT 


INDEX 


Abbott,  David.  6. 

Adams,  Philander,  308. 

Adelbert  College,  116. 

Akron,  13,  24,  100.  119,  155.  162,  169,  239, 

278.  305. 
Alleghany.  R.  31. 
Amherst,  Gen.  38. 
Amur,  John,  169- 
Apple  Cre«k,  262. 
Ashland  Co..  177,  188.  195. 
Ashtabula.  72,  319. 
Atwater,  Amzi,  136,  266. 
Aurora,  106. 
Austinburgh,  132. 

Badger,  Rev.  Joseph,  132. 

BathTp..  170.  178- 

Beaver  Hat,  169.  195.  258. 

Beers,  VVm.,  311. 

Bienville,  Cleron  de,  31 

Bierce.Gen.,  155.  212,  214. 

Big  Falls,  169. 

Big  Foot,  268. 

Big  Sandy,  188. 

Bigsby,  179. 

Bigson,  166,  169,  254. 

Bissell,  Rev.  Samuel,  106,  200,  214. 

Blackbird,  199.  213. 

Black  Halk,  199. 

Black  River,  191,  230. 

Black  Snake,  29. 

Black  Wolf,  200. 

Bolivar,  45,  188. 

Borland,  M.,  311- 

Boston,  102,  163,  176,  254.  293. 

Botentourt  Co..  6,  58,  68. 

Braddock,  Gen.,  34. 

Brady,  Capt.  Sam'l.  179,  260.  263. 

Breakneck  Creek,  168.  176,  179. 

Brown,  John,  24,  319.  322. 

Brown,  Rev.  Edw-,  130. 

Brown,  Jas.,  293. 

Buchtel  College,  106,  200. 

Buffalo.  30,  90. 

Burke.  177. 

Burton,  124. 

Campbell,  Mary,  179. 
Canheld,  153. 
Canandiauga  Lake,  30. 
Canton,  153,  158,  288. 
Captives  Town,  224. 
Carroll  Co,,  188. 
Cartier,  Ja'jues,  35 
Chagrin  R.,  118. 
Chardon,  101. 
Chase,  Gov.  S.  P.,  318. 
Chatham,  327- 
Chillicothe,  47. 
Chippewa.  15,  169. 


Chittenden.  Henry,  308. 

Cleveland.  Moses,  28.  59,  170.  212,  305. 

Cleveland.  100,  154.  158,  228,  293,  303. 

Clinton,  Gov.,  33. 

Columbiana  Co.,  188. 

Conneaut.  22,  19.  20,  34,  170.  200. 

Connotttn  Co.,  188. 

Cooke,  Jay,  197. 

Copley  Swamp,  13,  159. 

Cornstalk.  44. 

Coshocton.  41,  48.  188.  221. 

Coventry  Tp..  149,  169,  243. 

Cresap,  Col.,  215. 

Croghan,  207,  286. 

Cross  Cr  ,  188. 

Crawford.  Col..  51. 

Cuyahoga  Co.,  72,  138. 

Cuyahoga    R..    11.  34.  70.  109.  134,  155. 

274,  303.  305, 
Daniels,  Frederick,  181. 
Daniels,  Horace,  158. 
Day,  Lewis,   153. 
De  Coursey,  310. 
Deerfield,  153.  253.  260,  321- 
Diver,  John,  153. 
Diver,  Daniel,  255.  260. 
Dixon,  Liberton,  250 
Doddridge.  Dr.,  225. 
Doughty,  Maj.,  276. 
Doylestown.  189 
Dudley.  Col.,  206 
Dunning,  Moses,  289. 
DuQuense,  Ft..  34. 
Du  Troit  (Detroit).  34.  38.  176,  275,   283 

304. 
East  Liberty,  252 
Edwards,  Rev.  Wm.,  220. 
Edinburg,  168,  176. 
Elliott,  Capt..  223. 
Elyria,  230. 
Ettwein,  Rev.  Jno.,  220. 

Finney,  116.  312. 

Fish  Creek.  168,  176.  263. 

Flickinger,  Henry,  301. 

Fort  Island,  13.  24. 

Franklin  Mills  (Kent),  182.  263. 

Franklin  Tp..  143,  265,  311. 

Galloway,  Sam'l,  100. 
Gallipolis,  37. 
Gartield,  Jas.  A.,  117. 
Gallon.  Rachael,  93. 
Gaylord.  303 
Geauga  Co  ,  72 
Gear.  Lois  Ann,  102. 
Giddings,  J.  R  ,  318. 
Gilbert,  Jabez.  155. 
Gilson,  Eleaser,  154. 
Girty,  Simon,  47,  173,  282. 


331 


INDEX— Continued. 


Girty.  Jas.,  173. 
Gist.  Christopher,  33- 
Gnadenhutten,  51,  221. 
Goodspeed,  W.  A,,  106.  311. 
Gordon,  Rev.  Geo.,  315. 
Gorham,  57- 
Govver,  Ft.,  44. 
Grant,  Gen.  U.  S..  199. 
G  eeley,  Horace,  200. 
Greene  Co.,  46. 
Greentown.  193,  249. 
Greensburg,  251. 
Greenville,  193,  275,  279. 
Green,  Thomas,  249. 
Green  Tp.,  250. 

Hall,  Jno.,  312. 
Hardy,  Samuel,  58. 
Harmar,  Gen.,  178.  275,  276. 
Harper's  Ferry,  327. 
Harrison,  Gen.,  29.  202.  282. 
Hart,  Capt.  Joseph,  123 
Harter,  Geo.,  195,  258. 
Harvey, T.  VV..  100. 
Heckwelder,  Rev.  Jno.  220,  227. 
Henry,  Ft     Wheeling)  49. 
Hillman.  Col   Jas.,  134,  178, 
Hinsdale,  Aaron,  117. 
Hiram  College,  106,  117. 
Holley,  Milton.  179. 
Holmes  Co..  110,  188 
Holmes.  Uiial.  266. 
Howe,  266. 

Hopocon,  176.     (See  Capt.  Pipe;. 
Houtz,  Ft.,  13 

Howell,  Wm.  D.,  84. 

Hubbard,  Bella.  155. 

Hudson.  100,  115.  138,  154,  158,  l65,  324. 

Huron,  177,  227. 

Huntington,  6. 

Independence  Tp.,  228. 
Iro«4Uois,  31. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  6,  58,  182,  215,  305. 

Jefferson  Co.,  68. 

Jesuits,  18. 

Johnson,  Harvey,  162. 

Johnson's  Corners,  189,  301. 

Johnson,  Col.,  210,  279. 

Junghan,  Rev.  J.  G.,  220. 

Kagi,  J.  H.,  327. 

Kanawah  R.,  33. 

Kelsey,  303. 

Kent  (FrankUn  Mills)  178.  182,  324. 

Kepler,  Jno-,  242. 

Killbuck,  188. 

Kirtland.  118. 

Knapp,  245. 

Knox  Co..  188. 

Kointown,  l3. 

Kribs,  135. 


Laird.  Wm..  307. 
Lake  Co.,  172. 
Lanlewasikaw.  203. 
Laurens,  Ft.,  5,  45,  274. 
Le  Bouef,  Ft.,  54. 
Lee,  Arthur,  58. 
Leedy,  Mrs.,  92. 
Leggett,  M.  G  ,  100. 
Little,  Mt.,  119 
Lincoln.  Abraham,  199. 
Liperpool  Tp.,   136. 
Logan.  170.  201,  215. 
LoramiQ_Cr.,  54. 
Lorain  Co..  73.  317. 
Loskiel,  225. 

Mahan,  166. 

Mahoning  R.,  134.  136. 

Mahoning  Co.,  72,  74,  158. 

Manchester,  144. 

Mansfield.  153,  158. 

Mantua,  124. 

Marchault,  Ft..  34. 

Margarets.  Ft..  34. 

Marietta,  6,  33,  100. 

Massac,  34. 

Mathews,  A.,  65. 

McArthur   Col.  Rial,  278.  288. 

McGre;  gor,  Jno..  104. 

Medina  Co.,  73,  98.   136.   138,    158,231. 

278.  286.  297. 
Meigs.  Ft.    205. 
Miami  R.,  33. 
Miami,  Ft.,  205. 
Michilimackinac,  34. 
Middleburv,    102,    123,    158,    162,    177. 

278.  291.  306. 
Milan,  229,  28*6. 
Mills,  Capt,.  170,  181.  258,  292. 
Milton,  168,  176. 
Mingo  Bottoms,  51,  224. 
Mohawks,  30. 

Mohawk,  Jno..  141,  169,  254. 
Mohican,  15.  177. 
Monroe,  las.,  6.  58. 
Moravians.  48,  50,52,  181. 
Morgan,  116. 
Morrow  Co  ,  188. 
Mound  Builders.  9. 
Mudbrook,  123,258. 
Muskingum,  33.  41,  49,  100.  176,  305. 

Navarre,  188. 

Nelson  Tp.,  226. 

Nesmeth  Lake,  186. 

Newburgh,  123. 

New  Lisbon.   153.  288. 

New  Portage,  169,  183,  243,  305. 

Niagara,  30,  283. 

Nicksaw,  169.  181.  254 

Northhai-pton,  123.  176,  257,  263.  302. 

Northfield,  102. 

Norton.  243.  301.  302,  308. 


332 


INDEX—  Continued. 


Obrelin,  106,  116.  313. 

Ogontz,  163.  195. 

Old  Portage.  158,  176.   183.  277.  284.  286, 

289,  293.  295,  303,  306. 
Omic.  218. 
Onalaska,  195,  238. 
Oneidas,  30. 
Onondagoas,  30. 
Oviatt,  Capt.  Heman,  196.  254 

Palmyra,  124.  168,  170,  176. 

Parsons,  Richard,  315. 

Parsons.  Gen..  6,  135. 

Patterson.  Wm.,  144. 

Parkman,  31. 

Pasqualigo.  35. 

Pease,  Seth,  61,  136,  162,  179. 

Pease,  Judge,  153. 

Peninsula,  303. 

Perry.  O.  H.  Capt.,  29,  286,  303. 

Perkins.  Gen.  Simon.  153,  286 

Phelps,  59. 

Piqua,  33,  47,  170.  200. 

Pickawillany  R..  33. 

Pitt.  Ft.,  34.41. 

Pipe,  Capt  .  46.  51    169.  173,  193,  216  247 
278,  283   284.     (See  Hopocan.)       ' 

Pittsburgh,  178. 

Pierce,  138. 

Pilgrim's  Rest.  228. 

Portage  Path,  5,  11,  13,  70,  109,  176,  185, 
239.  262. 

Portage  Co..  72,   123,   158.  181,  183,258 

263. 
Polland,   124. 
Porter,  Augustus.  135. 
Pontiac,  38.  172.  201 
Ponty's  Camp.  163.  200.  254. 
Post.  Rev.  Chas.  F.,  220 
Portage  Hotel,  185. 
Prior,  Wm...  289. 
Proctor.  205.  2^0. 
Presque  Isle,  11,  34.  168,  277. 
Putnam,  Gen.,  6,  39. 
Pymatuning  Cr  ,  218. 

Randolph.  155,  320. 

Ravenna,  134,   154,  158,  176    2  3. 

Redfield,  Jas.,  125. 

Rice,  Eleazer,  291. 

Richheld,  138,  166.  178.  254   324 

Richland  Co..  24.  177    188 

Rocky  River.  11,  39.  191,  237. 

Rogers,  Major.  38,  254. 

Roosevelt.  Theo..  225,  271. 

Roth,  Rev.  Jno..  221. 

Salem,  224. 

Salt  Springs,  168. 

Sandusky.  11.  34,  52,  100,  101.  154,  176, 

195.274. 
Schebash,  224. 
Schonbrunn.  221. 
Schmick.  Rev..  221. 


Scioto  River,  31,  176. 

Scioto  War  Trail,  13.  176,  188. 

Seneca.  163.  201. 

Sensman,  221. 

Sharon  Center,  104,  119,  159. 

Shawanese,  31. 

Shea.  18. 

Shepherd,  Rev.  Jno.,  116. 

Sherbondy  Hill.  188. 

Silver  Creek.  176.  181. 

Silver  Lake,  169. 

Smith.  Col    lames.  230 

Smith.  Dr.  Wm..  178.  l88. 

Smith  Road,  176.  278,  286. 

Spaftord.  Anna.  lUO. 

Spicer.  Hiram  J.,  162. 

Springfield  Lake,  178,  184. 

Standing  Stone    176.  182,  263. 

Stark  Co..  188. 

State  Teachers'  Ass'n.  100. 

St.  Clair.  Gen.,  6.  278. 

Stephenson,  Ft.'Fremontj  207.  278,  286, 

Stewart,  Mrs.,  179. 

Stignish,  169. 

Stiles,  102. 

Stokes,  Jno.,   158. 

Storrs.  24,  116.  324. 

Stow.  158.  176. 

Stowe.  Benj..  259.  291.  304. 

Streetsboro,  169 

Sugar  Creek,  262. 

Summit  Co.,  72,  I23.  138,  I.S8.  183,  268 

Summit  Lake.  182,  305. 

Tallmadge,  178,306. 

Tappan,  Benj.,  73,  l79. 

Tapiian,  Abraham,  61. 

Tarhe,  Chief.  29,  283 

Tecumseh.  47,  202.  283. 

Tinker's  Creek.  123,  134.  228. 

Tippecanoe,  203.  281.  284. 

Tourgee.  66. 

Tontileango.  231. 

Tiumbull  Co.,  6.  72.   147,  158. 

Turkeyfoot  Lake.  169.  251. 

Tupper.  Gen.,  100 

Tuscarawas  R  .  5,  6,  41,  4S,  109.  176 

221,  274.  305. 
Twinsburg  Institute.  106. 
Tyemochte  Cr.    53. 

Van  Hyning's  Bridge,   188,  302. 
Vennango,  Ft  ,  34. 
Vernon  River,  18^ 

Wabmung.  169. 

Wadsworth,  Gen.,  iS3.  183,  278,  284. 

Wadsworth.  13.  104,  243. 

Wakatomika  Cr.,  43. 

Walhonding  Cr.,  41.  177.  188.  274. 

Wampetek  (Wamtekek)  169.  197.  252. 

Warner.  Chas.  D.,  35. 

Warner,  Aaron,  130. 

Warren,  Moses,  179,  186. 


333 


INDEX— Concluded. 


Warren,  6.  71,  153,  158.255. 

Washington.  Geo.  5.   51.  182,  261. 

Washington  Co.,  68. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  193,  280. 

Wellington.  317. 

Weld,  J  as.  W,.  138. 

Western  Reserve  College.  104,  115. 

White  Woman's  River,  41. 

Whittlesey.  Col.  Chas.  24. 

Whittier,  129.  137.  193,  250,  322,  328. 

Wick,  Rev.  Wm..  132. 

Wilkins.  38. 

Williams.  Jonathan,  252. 

Williamson,  Col.,  51,  224. 


Wilson,  Geo.,  169. 
Wilson,  Indian.  255. 
Wilson.  Peter,  199,  214. 
Wintergreen  Pt.,  170.  230. 
Wolf  Creek    188. 
Wooster,  159,  189.  288. 
Wright,  Geo..  101. 

Yellow  Creek,  302. 
Young's  Hotel,  169,  186.  193. 
Youngstown.  132.  134,  153,  176,  266. 

Zeisberger,  Rev.  David,  227. 
Zoar,  188. 


14  DAY  USE 

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Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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